Remembering the final days of high school
Even if it was decades ago
Tim Wilson
It’s been close to 50 years since I graduated (yikes!) but when May arrives, I still find myself harkening back at some point to my high school last hurrah.
I guess it’s in part the change in the weather that reminds me of those days but more likely the simple fact that graduations surround us every year. I’ve been through that rite of passage with three sons but it’s the significance of that time in my life, not theirs, that sticks with me.
One word captures how it felt for me: final. To start with there were the final, final exams. For those of us heading off to college, few had a clue about what was awaiting us for exams.
But it was so much more than those last tests. At some point that year, we had taken to a playing field, court or rink for the final time with our teammates. It was the final time we would gather everyday in that building with those classmates. Little did we know that in some cases, graduation day would be the final time we saw each other.
In the 11 preceding years of our school life, we knew exactly what was coming next and we were all taking a step together. It was the final time for that. This next step was a doozy. Whether we were going to college, into the service, or starting a job, along with a diploma we were each handed the custom parachute we had unknowingly manufactured for ourselves. Now it was time to jump.
I don’t know about anyone else but to that point my high school graduation was the most attention I ever had showered on me by my parents and other relatives. Did they know something I didn’t? It felt a little bit like being the guest of honor at a wake, but I was still breathing.
Maybe it was the realization that so much unknown was ahead for me. I really was going to a college more than 1,000 miles from home in a place where I had never set foot. No online virtual Tours or video welcomes on social media back then. The closest I’d been to Marquette’s campus in Milwaukee was watching a slide show at an event for accepted students at a hotel in Newton, Mass.
What followed is a story for another blog, in August.
In the meantime, I’ll ask you what I’ve asked myself. If you had access to a time machine, what would you go back and tell your high school senior self? For me it’s just three words: You got this.
I would not want to influence the experience I had back then with any revelations from the future. There were some lessons learned the hard way. But the coolest thing was that for the first time the next steps were truly up to me. Everything was new and exciting. So, given the chance to impart wisdom to that 17-year-old, I would rather just bolster his short supply of confidence and leave him to figure out the rest.
About the author: Tim Wilson is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts. He is passionate about his family, Marquette University, bicycling and all Boston sports.