As we start this new year, it has hit me that I am going to be starting my senior year this year; something I have dreamed of ever since I started school. When you’re young, you look up to the seniors in all different kinds of ways, seeing them as these giants who are so close yet so far from their adulthood, who have their entire lives in check. Now that it’s almost my turn to fill that senior role, I don’t feel we are this way at all. We’re so close to going in our own directions with just over a year left with one another, but one day we will all be on a different path. Some will choose an in-state college; others will go out of state. Some will go straight into work, and others will take a second to really think about what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Think about it: most of us at the ages of 19, 18, or 17 will be making a decision that is setting us up for our entire adulthood. I personally, at 16, am so lost at just the idea of adulthood… buying a house, insurance, a “real” job, and eventually starting families of our own. My personal plan for the future that could change in the next year is to attend college somewhere down south while playing softball. I’ve played softball for as long as I can remember, and it has given me so many different opportunities all throughout my life that I would not have been able to nor would I want to experience any other way. My reason for wanting to go down south for college is that I want to be able to experience life outside of the Midwest. After growing up here and spending the first 18 years of my life in one state, I want to be able to see more of the world than what is just offered in Iowa or surrounding states. I have always told myself that there is an entire world out there, not just the town you grew up in. I hope for my senior year that I can enjoy and soak in the final memories I’ll have for my high school journey, but I also hope that I don’t dwell too much on the “lasts” of high school because, in the end, this is just the beginning!