You’re running as fast as you can. Your breath is laboring, heavy in your ears. You can see the graduation “finish line” in the distance, and all you can think is “Almost there. You can make it. You’re almost there.” Just when victory seems in reach and you can see the graduation podium, you feel yourself start to fall. Your body starts to tip, and you see the ground rushing up to meet you.

No, this isn’t a race. It’s the end of high school is approaching. For all of you seniors, this is coming up sooner than you think. But the hardest part of the end of high school is just getting there without falling flat right before the finish line.

By the time you reach the end of senior year, most seniors are ready to graduate. But actually making it to graduation is the hard part. Even the most organized and motivated seniors tend to lose the desire to get things done. Instead, they hang out with friends, play sports, or just fall asleep. Bingham Senior Addy Bliss said, “I know that I should push to the end, but I’m so tired I just curl up and take a nap.”

A key part of graduating is keeping your grades up. But that’s something else that seniors tend to struggle with. Students who were ‘A’ students through the rest of high school watch their grades start to slip by the end of senior year. As senior Ryan Fuhriman said, “As long as you get a ‘B’ it’s ok.”

Graduation is an exciting moment in the life of any high schooler, but staying on top of homework and keeping grades up are extremely important parts of senior year. Without them, graduation becomes nothing but a dream. In order to get there, you have push through the struggles of senior year and endure to the end.