My Senior Quote

High school is a four-year experience that exposes students to vast opportunities to build memories and learn from one’s encounters. Some people reminisce about high school days as the best time of their life and they yearn for those “good old days.” Nearly all associate high school with an emotional medley of contentment, embarrassment, and regret, and no matter how one feels, all students are overcome with a dominant sentiment towards high school. “Strong emotions equal strong memories,” described Frank T. McAndrew in his psychology-based article, “Why high school stays with us forever.” Moreover, memory researchers have analyzed what is explained as a “reminiscence bump” as the source of those strong emotions.

Memories from high school can stem from the most serendipitous encounters, and being in the last year, can spur stimulating emotions and inspire students to reflect on their respective experiences in high school. “It feels pretty amazing. I mean, most of us have worked for 4 long years, and now we have time to truly enjoy ourselves. At times, it hits me that I’m truly growing up and I get sad about it, but it’s life. Senior year has been a lot about working on myself as a person and enjoying life before adulthood,” Vi LePham, a senior, expressed, ruminating on how she feels about being a senior at Huntington Beach High School. 

“After graduation, I hope to be at a four-year university to get a degree in communications. That’s the plan, at least. To be honest, I still have no clue what I want to do with my life, but I think I might wanna stick with anything media-related,” LePham further shared. 

High school largely takes up a lot of students’ time due to sports, clubs, and classwork. Despite the various tasks to undertake, these golden opportunities are a large influencer on one’s high school experience. Annabelle Low, a senior, expressed openly, “The highlight of my senior year so far has been running in the varsity 4 by 400m relay. It is my favorite event in track and feeling the support from my boyfriend, friends, and teammates was such an incredible experience. It will definitely be one of my favorite memories at HBHS and I am so excited for the rest of the year.” 

All four years of high school lead up to the moment of graduation. From being 14 to being 18, high school is the fount of memories from our youthful days. Senior, Elena VanderVeen’s biggest takeaway from high school is “that you can’t rely on precedented times…because of COVID my whole mental plan was thrown out the window, so I guess you can’t rely on what you think the future will be,” she elaborated. 

The timing of events is sometimes simply fortuitous and unexpected, but they are all additional pieces to an enjoyable high school experience. And whether high school has stimulated feelings of blitheness, excitement, or eagerness, it has influenced every senior student in an unchangeable way. And even though life after high school is still undetermined for many seniors, it is no doubt that it has been a meaningful experience for all.