It’s hard to believe it has been about a few months since graduation. It’s even harder to believe that I’m not in high school anymore. As much as an adjustment moving to the Academy was, going back to “normal” life is also somewhat of a challenge. Instead of constantly thinking about the closest due dates and the nearest exams, I’m busy staving off boredom. I have to remind myself frighteningly often that I no longer have to check Blackboard or Mastering Physics every hour. I’m getting used to driving again, and I no longer freak out when I check the time and realize I’m not home at 10:30 for a curfew check. I’m learning how to cook again, even as much as it pains me to pass a Subway or Chick-fil-a on the way home. Readjusting to life at home is a nice change, but I’d be lying if I said it was easy. Learning to cook, driving around busy downtown Louisville, and enjoying the company of my family are not difficult. Coming to terms with what I have left behind is.

Gatton was home for the past two years. My own house felt like more of a second home than Gatton did. Parting ways with the Gatton family was harder than moving away from my hometown of sixteen years. The bonds and friendships forged through my junior and senior years are unlike any I have ever had or will have. Never again will I connect in the same ways with such an exemplary group of individuals as I have. Those bonds were forged through countless hours of Super Smash Bros, endless TV, movie, and video game quotes and references, some tireless nights of horribly terrific dancing, and the occasional sleepless nights spent in conversation or in preparation for a trip to Waffle House at six in the morning. I will miss living in the same building with some of the closest friends I’ve ever had.

Senior year just may have been the best year of my life thus far; 2015 was a great year to be a senior at the Gatton Academy. It has been a very exciting year. Gatton was again named the top high school in the nation, plans to expand the Academy were officially announced, and some truly awesome faculty and staff were welcomed in to the Gatton family. General Bolden, astronaut and director of NASA, dropped in to say hi to us students. Bill Nye stopped by to speak exclusively with some lucky Gatton students before giving the whole of WKU an excellent show. Jody Richards, Governor Beshear, and Mr. Gatton himself were welcomed to the Academy for an afternoon of celebration with students, staff, guests, and parents. And who could forget the generosity of Mother Nature and Skipper Bob? About two cumulative weeks of cancelled class provided some excellent opportunities for popcorn, guiltless all-nighters, and huge, precision-engineered blanket forts. The class of 2015 is, in a way, the end of an era. We are the last graduating class to have walked the halls of the current Florence Schneider Hall. Things will never quite be the same at Gatton after this year, but that surely isn’t a bad thing.

Leaving behind Gatton is a lot more complicated than just leaving Florence Schneider Hall. It’s leaving behind your fondest memories. It’s leaving behind some of the coolest people you’ve ever known, some that you’ll keep up with and stay close to for the rest of your life and some you might never see again. It’s even leaving behind a culture you’ve helped craft and come to call your own. But we leave knowing that we are thoroughly prepared to face almost any challenge that college life might throw at us, something that only a handful of high school students can say with such confidence.

With that being said, I have a few final words. To the class of 2015: thanks for the memories and the best years of my life. To the class of 2016: it’s been a privilege, and I can’t wait to read your senior reflections and hear about how awesome your senior year was. And to the upcoming class of 2017: buckle up, because you’re about to board an emotional rollercoaster of lows and highs, but it will be the best ride of your life, I guarantee it.