Senior Bubble
By Rocio, age 16, California
It seems like every day high school portrays a fictional story more and more. Most of us, including myself, had not been aware of this until one day we decided to step out of our own little worlds and look around our campus for once. It's almost like one of those animated networks where you create an avatar and portray a virtual character of your choice, only here the avatars are people, and the characters are fake. Just think about it. There are all these invisible boundaries within each campus, regardless of the location. Each school has its typical cliques where you have your jocks, your nerds, your sexually active band geeks, and your cheerleaders, though this list varies by campus.
One thing all high schools in the nation have in common is that the only reason most of the students go to school is because of the friends they have within their clique. Each student's world revolves around their clique and their actions are a reflection of their friends. Everyone in the school, or at least within the same grade, knows each other, either through gossip, occasional "hi's and byes", or mere coincidence. These cliques seem to work for every high school student until their senior year when reality hits them. College applications begin to overload them and suddenly their friends are no longer their first priority. They begin to realize that there is life beyond their clique and high school, and that it's time to snap out of it.
I myself can say I am one of the victims of "senioritis". Many seniors may say, "What? There's no such thing as 'senioritis'". But don't beg to differ just yet. After a long period of thinking I've concluded that seniortis is a contagious epidemic disease that spreads among every senior class each year. The side effects of seniortis include laziness, procrastination, and stress.
Think about it. I mean, most of us say, "Well, it's my last year in high school, so I'll just follow the rules, apply to college, hope to get in, and get out of high school." Right? But what we don't consider is that this year is one of the most important years of our lives. This is the year when we transition into adulthood, or at least what we consider to be adulthood, and begin to spread our wings and fly. It amazes me that throughout all of our high school careers we never become aware that our last year is approaching and that things are going to change. We picture life as it is portrayed in movies like Mean Girls and hope that we are plastic forever, molded into a lifestyle that fits our priorities. In today's society which is predominantly ruled by the media, it is no surprise that more and more teens want to live the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle and be in a bubble that never bursts. I can only conclude that this bubble will eventually burst, but will one day form again into the bubble we want our lives to be.