As the senior class prepares to take the next steps into adulthood through graduation, transitioning from high school to college or other job opportunities, difficulties and changes can appear more often. Maturity plays a large role in how people handle change and difficulties.
Despite the difficulties, one can still find positive aspects of this transition.
“The classes [are my favorite change] because instead of rigid 7:30 [AM classes], I have classes at 9 a.m.,” college freshman Angela Lee said. ”It feels like it’s 7:30 but I get the freedom to choose. So it’s a lot easier to want to go to my classes.”
With the freedom of planning one’s own classes, being in college requires responsibility and demands high levels of maturity to handle tasks like these.
“[College has] definitely taught me how to adult… [and] it’s taught me to be responsible,” Lee said. “A lot more responsible than [when I was] in high school, because if I missed class [in college], the professor isn’t going to hunt me down and [say] you gotta learn this and this and this. It’s up to you to be accountable for whatever you do”
In addition to the call for competence and maturity, personal growth as people transition into adulthood tends to happen as well.
“I’ll definitely mature, which is probably a good thing,” senior Randy Bartels said. “I’ll also start learning more adult things, and probably get less sleep.”
Maturity is important when it comes to staying organized because there is no one to hold otters accountable.
“I’m gonna be a lot less organized. I’m already not organized in my parent’s house, so at least I have somebody holding me accountable,” Bartels said. “But during college, I won’t have someone holding me accountable to stay organized.”
Despite the potential negatives of the switch, some positives can come with the growing pains.
“The change of scenery is a positive aspect, because… we were all in the same school for middle school and high school [where] there was a limited amount people. There’s so many people [in college] and every day you could literally just meet a new person”
Something to be careful about when switching to college is “senioritis,” a term used to describe a lack of motivation at the end of a student’s course. Although people are starting college, High School senioritis can continue into college.
“Don’t expect [senioritis] to just go away, because I was thinking I could just have senioritis and immediately bounce back in college, but it just continues,” Lee said. “It just stays with you. If it was really bad in high school it’s gonna get worse in college. You got to be prepared for that.”
