Thursday night as I watched the class of 2018 graduate I struggled to keep my emotions intact. I didn’t realize that I had developed a bond with some of these seniors in the year I had been here. I’ve watched them participate in the activities I once did with my friends, and more importantly I’ve watched them grow.

Senior year was by far one of the best years of my young adult life. I often tell people I “peaked” my senior year. Everyone says the best is yet to come, but I will always believe that was the best time.

I know everyone is probably thinking high school was your best time? Yes, we had college applications and scholarship forms and grades to keep up with, but there will never be another time in your life where you are surrounded by people who know almost as much as you know yourself and who have accepted you at all phases in your life.

To my dismay in college, there were no more proms or homecoming dances. There was formal, but it’s not the same as getting dressed up with your friends and riding in a limo to an overpriced restaurant and then going to get sweaty in some gymnasium, while drinking Hawaiian punch. There was no more eating your sac lunch with your best friends while you gossip about the latest teacher scandals. You’ll see your friends walking across the quad, sipping on Starbucks because they missed lunch in order to study.

High school really is the best. I miss my “clique” daily, and when I watched Natalie Edmunds give her speech and mention her squad last night I almost lost it.

Never lose touch with your squad. It will be difficult and you may have to plan out a call time, but it is so worth it. I’ve read before that if you have a friend for seven years, then the friendship will last a lifetime.

I can say, without hesitation that statement has been the case for my friends and me. In fact, we all just got together to see one of us get married.

College friends can last a lifetime, I still have a few I’m close with, but unfortunately they are from everywhere and it can be difficult to travel to them.

The first few weeks of college can be tough; because you want to compare all these new people you’re meeting to the friends back home. You think to yourself “can these be my new people?”

The answer is maybe. They can probably be your new friends, but no one replaces what you had. So, take every friendship for what it’s worth. Take every year for what it’s worth.

I hope the senior class spends their summer making ever lasting memories with their squad one last time and preparing to make new memories with whoever comes next.

I never thought I would make memories with another senior class, but BHS 2018 class you brought me back to why I loved high school.