Senior year is just a bad cliché

The unofficial end of summer is approaching, to the horror of most schoolchildren -- or, at least, schoolchildren that know better. I think it's ironic that if most of those high school students who think the first day of school is worse than severing a limb take a stroll down memory lane, they'll find that the first day of school used to be exciting in elementary school. By the end of three months, most grade-school students are tired of doing nothing but sitting on the couch in a bathrobe and slippers and eating bon-bons while watching Oprah -- or maybe that was just me.

What most people my age will find really sad is that I'm ready for school to begin. Not because I'm ready for the invigorating smell of sterilized hallways and new school supplies; not because I desperately want to be overloaded with tests and homework and six-page papers about what the world will be like in 40 years; not even because, in all honesty, I don't mind school. I'm ready for school to start because it recently dawned on me that in nine months I graduate.

I've been ready to graduate since fourth grade. My parents have been ready for me to graduate since fourth grade. My dentist has been ready for me to graduate since fourth grade. The people at Panera Bread have been ready for me to graduate since fourth grade. The entire idea of graduation and moving on to college has fueled me since before I could spell college.

My senior year begins Wednesday -- the beginning of the end, I'm told (what a horrible, atrocious -- yet fitting -- cliché to use). As much as I'd like to be pessimistic and pretend that my senior year is as good as it gets, I can't. In fact, the year in and of itself doesn't really mean a hill of beans to me. Let me establish this before anyone else asks me if I'm excited about being a senior: senior year is just another year of high school separating me from college.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to blow off my senior year. I'll still go to football games and prom and exercise seniority everywhere possible and cram for my AP biology tests and procrastinate on my Springer papers -- all the essential things a high school senior should do. But for me, that's not what this year is all about. This year is about being in my cap and gown, walking across a rickety stage, shaking hands with the happiest man in the world and getting a piece of paper that essentially says: You are done -- off to college!

Just 282 days to go.

Sarah Polen is a student at Central High School.