"Senior Year in Comparison" by Lola Lane

Senior year is such a strange time. It’s prefaced by every other student who has experienced it as “the best year of your life”, or, more accurately stated, the best year of high school. Although I have yet to experience the totality of the famous senior year, I think I have already picked out a strong contending metaphor for it. Senior year is like Disney World. I think everyone who has been to Disney World cannot deny that Disney World is awesome. There’s this magic to it that’s pretty much unparalleled by any other place in the world. It’s the place where dreams come true- well at least that’s what they tell me. So, just like senior year, Disney world is hyped up like no other. You’re so excited to go to Disney World because it’s so great, and all, but once you get there your energy goes from a 500 hundred on the excited scale to about a 50. There are lines everywhere. Turns out that everyone loves Disney world, too, and they all decided to come on the same hot day you’re here. But you aren’t going to let that stop you because Disney World is awesome, and you don’t want to be that guy who hates Disney World. So here you are, it’s you’re Senior year, and you have tons of stuff to do- keeping up the grades, writing the prize-winning essays, studying for the final SAT, finding time to play a sport, and lastly  scrounging up time to hang out with your friends. Senior year is waiting in the line at Disney World to go on the great ride that everyone who has ever been there knows about and went on at least ten times. It’s hot, it gets frustrating, you wind up yelling at your parents, and asking how much more time until you’ll be at the front, or when you’ll finally be accepted into college. The line does funny things to you. The crowds create unpleasantness. It’s inevitable. You get in line and your face automatically becomes a shade of disdain and extreme discomfort.  The same is true of senior year. Everyone is bogged down with early applications, stressful, higher-level AP courses, and the endless amounts of wondering about the future and how it’s going to turn out for you. The line drags on, as this weird part of senior year seems never-ending. Finally, it’s January 1^st and applications are due. A huge weight is lifted from your shoulders. You are about ten people away from being on the ride. Then it hits, an acceptance or a denial, but you’ve made it to the end nonetheless. Whether the ride was good or bad, at least it’s over. Graduation, and the next ride eagerly calls your name. Of course, this is only how I assume senior year plays out. I haven’t completed the year yet, but I’m fairly certain it would one thousand times better if senior year took place at Disney World.