Dear Reader,

This past Thursday, I quickly scrolled the length of the page one last time, held my breath, then clicked. My Early Decision application was submitted. If I later spot a glaring typo or have a sudden epiphany, it is too late. My fate is sealed. I felt a profound sense of satisfaction . . . and fear.

But I also feel sadness and disbelief. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was sitting at home over Thanksgiving Break, filling out prep school applications. And now, I have officially completed the first final step in the process of finding a new home. Though I toured nearly a dozen colleges this summer and lost sleep over preparing for college admission tests, the end game all seemed so far off.

I have been in denial. I cannot avoid the fact that we are at the beginning of the end. And though any good graduation speaker will tell you that leaving high school is just the “end of beginning,” I have to disagree. Our grade has only just begun to shed the self-consciousness that sometimes inhibited us from building meaningful relationships and from making decisions that would truly have made us happy during the first few years.

The places, people, and tasks that seemed so daunting when we first began are now non-events. We finally feel comfortable in our own skin and with the roles we have grown into at the Academy. And yet now our time is running out. Are we ready to leave? This “forever” that I imagined while filling out my boarding school applications didn’t include graduation. Have we accomplished everything that we set out to accomplish?

Before it’s too late, let’s strive to make a few more friends, mend fences and set in place lifetime soul mates. In just a short time we’ll be out the door.

All the best,
Henry Cobbs