I keep repeating the words “senior year” in my head, but I don’t feel different. Senior year caught me off guard. All throughout my high school career I have looked up to the seniors and followed in their footsteps, but the footsteps have ended. There’s no one setting an example for me anymore; in fact, I’m the example. That’s right, me. I have done no preparation for the leadership position I have been thrown into. Everyone seems so ready for this year, but I feel like I have been left in junior year. I feel like I am center stage for a play and all eyes are on me, but I don’t know my lines.

Throwing it back to freshman year, I was a lot shorter, a lot skinnier, and a lot less outgoing. I had just transferred from Westlake Middle School and I think I knew a total of six kids. My freshman year sucked, I knew no one, the seniors weren’t very accepting so I never got the chance of meeting upperclassmen. Now here I am as a senior and I want the incoming freshman class to know that we’re not that big, not that tall, and we’re not that scary.

Are the underclassmen comfortable with the seniors?

I mean, I am not the most imposing guy, only weighing 115 pounds, but still, are they comfortable with the graduating class of 2018? Walking through the hallway I have noticed more upperclassman-underclassman interaction than previous years. I see more seniors greeting underclassmen, opposed to shoving them in the halls.

“You guys are a cool class overall, I feel comfortable around you guys and I feel a genuine connection with this senior class,” said sophomore Brice Barday. Isn’t that really what senior year is about? The seniors have a lot of responsibilities around the school, and making sure that everyone in the building is comfortable is one of those responsibilities.

I asked myself a question as I was driving home from work, “What makes a good senior?” As I picked Mason Mckinsey up for school I asked him, “What makes a good senior?” “You guys have to be fun and entertaining, like, not just at the games, but in the hallway as well. I don’t wanna be scared of the seniors. I want them to be cool with them,” he said.

Mason raised a good point: the seniors’ leadership doesn’t just disappear after that Friday night football game and reappear the next game. Seniors have to lead in the classroom, hallways, and all over campus. Eyes are on us all the time, and we have to set an amazing example because the young onlookers that are soon to be seniors will be following our footsteps.