We’ve all pictured this year to be something different. We’ve felt the excitement to finally be the top dog around school and we’ve felt the gloominess of the rapidly approaching goodbyes. Senior year is bittersweet.

I have always looked forward to this year. I am guilty of watching the clock slowly tick by each day of the past four years, waiting for the bell at 2:25 to release me to freedom. But now, as a Senior, I look back on the past 17 years of my life, and all I want is for the clock to slow down. The thought of only having one year left to embrace all Park City and high school has to offer is overwhelming.

School isn’t easy. An alarm sounding before the crack of dawn only to then sit through 90 minutes of Nordfelt talking about the definition of a derivative is not something many look forward to. I know we will all soon discover that the past senior classes were not overreacting and how senioritis, in fact, is real.

There are bound to be days when our brains feel so fried that if we learn anything new they’ll probably turn to mush. We are going to see some days when our alarms go off and there is no place we’d rather be than bed. And there lie many days ahead that we become so stressed about our futures that we forget to live in the moment.

But I have a challenge for you, class of 2018: enjoy everyday. Enjoy those hours late into the night you spend with your nose in a book cramming for Mulick’s AP Enviro test. Or rejoice in the moment you give up and decide to go swing in your hammock and take in the mountain view at the top of Guardsmans instead. Appreciate Albertos’ famous nacharitos with an accompanying chocolate milkshake less than a quarter mile drive away each day at lunch. And relish each moment you have left with those you learn from and those you learn with.

Our class is so special, from the geniuses who we all envy for getting a 35 on the ACT first try, to the athletes who have been committed to D1 Universities since freshmen year. We are home to countless students who have been a part of a State championship winning team and one of the best filmmakers in the nation. We are family to a nationally ranked Debate team and over 50 students who have traveled on service trips and made an impact in foreign countries. We are, and always will be, Park City High School’s class of 2018.

And so, I have decided not to countdown to graduation, but to count up. I want to count up the days I have left to wear the black and red jersey on Dozier field. I want to count up each day I have left with the people I love and each day I have left to meet more. I want to count up everyday I have left to be a Miner, because when June 1st arrives and I put on that white graduation gown, I want to believe I have embraced and lived each day at Park City High School to the fullest.