Senior year is equal parts exciting and overwhelming—packed with deadlines, decisions and moments that feel bigger than anything that came before. It’s a season that goes fast and means a lot. To help underclassmen navigate it, seniors were asked to share the lessons they learned the hard way, the things they wish someone had told them and the advice they’d give if they could start over.
1) Stop caring about what other people think about you
This was the single most repeated piece of advice across every interview. The energy you spend worrying about other people’s opinions is energy stolen from actually living your life. It sounds obvious. It isn’t easy—but the seniors who figured this out early said it unlocked a high school career full of freedom and fun. “Genuinely stop caring what other people think. It’s so much more effort to care and revolve your life around it than to just let it go,” Isabella Kim said. Maggie Burchfield put it simply: “Don’t care what other people think about you. Be yourself.”
2) Get involved
Clubs, sports, activities, volunteering—whatever it is, do it. The seniors who looked back with the most regret weren’t the ones who tried things and didn’t love them or who put themselves out there and experienced failure or stress. They are the ones who never tried in the first place. Getting involved is how you find your people, discover your interests and actually remember high school fondly. “It helps so much and introduces you to new people,” Brooklyn Gill said. For Brynn Bobby, it’s personal: “Get involved—this was my biggest regret from high school.”
3) Don’t pre-determine something is lame
Do not dismiss things before you try them. That instinct will cost you. The football game you skip, the assembly you do not show up to, the club that sounds boring, the event that “isn’t your thing”—those are exactly the things that end up being worth it. You meet people you wouldn’t have met, you open yourself up to opportunities you wouldn’t have access to and you allow yourself to let loose and have more fun overall. Give things a chance before your brain talks you out of them. “Don’t put yourself in a mindset where you think something is ‘lame’ or ‘stupid’; just have fun and make the most of all opportunities,” Mackena Mosher said. “I would try to go to more social things, but not at the expense of reaching any goals,” Paige Bierlein added.
4) When you get a bad grade, keep moving
One bad test is not a verdict on your future. One rough semester is not who you are; at the end of the day, grades are important but they do not define you. The seniors who ended up thriving the most were the ones who learned to shake it off and keep going—not the ones who let it spiral. Do your homework (it really does add up), but don’t let a setback become your whole story— instead, push forward and let it fuel you for a future of success. “Don’t take it seriously—if you get a bad grade, okay, keep moving on,” Zofia Zak said. Paige Bierlein offered a bigger-picture perspective: “Give it your all to accomplish your dreams. Even if it doesn’t work out, your hard work will transfer into something else. Trust the process.”
5) Learn to find a balance
Nobody hands you a schedule and says “here’s how to do it all.” For the first time, maybe ever, in high school you are met with freedom to choose your own path. You figure this lifestyle out naturally by dropping things, overcommitting, burning out and slowly getting smarter about your limits. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s finding a rhythm that lets you show up for all of it without losing yourself in the process. “I’ve learned the practice of balance with life, school and work,” Isabella Kim said. Lena Procunier kept it direct: “Don’t lose yourself to gain another. Don’t expect too much.”
6) Love yourself first
This isn’t self-help fluff—it’s the foundation. The seniors who figured out who they were, what they valued and how to be okay with themselves had an easier time with friendships, with rejection, with all of it. You can’t pour from an empty cup, and you can’t really connect with others when you’re running on self doubt. Remember that all you have in life is you, and make yourself your number one priority. Zarley Hranko used an inspirational take: “You must love yourself to love your neighbor.” “You don’t have to have everything figured out. Just be true to what works for you and what you enjoy,” Mosher added.
7) Live in the moment, it goes faster than you think
Every senior said some version of this: it flew by. The things you’re stressed about right now will shrink in your memory. The moments you actually showed up for—the random Tuesdays, the late nights, the games and the hallways and everything in between—those are what you’ll keep. Stop worrying so much and just soak in every moment. “I would change how much I worried about things and just lived in the present, trying to enjoy every moment,” Ty Langenderfer said. Bobby said that “things aren’t as big of a deal as you think. Everything happens for a reason.”
8) Remember, everything is going to be okay
There is so much life to live after high school. The grade, the drama, the thing that feels catastrophic right now will find its place in the bigger picture. Remember to zoom out; high school is not the end-all, be-all of your life. Be yourself. Keep going. Trust the process. Remember that the highs, lows, ups and downs are all pointing you somewhere. “Everything is going to be okay,” Teresa Golip said. And as Zofia Zak put it: “There is so much life out of high school.”
Taken together, the advice these seniors shared points to something bigger than any one lesson: high school is what you make of it, and what you make of it depends almost entirely on how willing you are to let go—of fear, of judgement, of the need to have it all figured out. Stop worrying about what others think. Get involved. Stay balanced. Love yourself. Be present. None of it is complicated, but all of it takes practice. The seniors who looked back with the fewest regrets weren’t the ones who had the perfect GPA or the most friends or the smoothest four years—they were the ones who showed up fully, stumbled openly and kept going anyway. So if there’s one thing to carry into your final year of high school, let it be this: the version of you that stops waiting for the right moment and that just lives—that’s the version you’ll be glad you chose.
