While struggling to keep above the swift current that is high school, it is easy to lose track of days, weeks, months… Until bam! High school ends and a new era begins.

2014-2015 seniors have already flown from the nest that embodied their high school experience, and as they prepare for their new beginning, they are filled with anticipation, sorrow, and reflection.

Luckily, some of their reflections are listed here for current high school underclassmen as advice that upperclassmen wish their younger selves followed:

“Take hard classes. Classes were easier than I thought they would be and I should have pushed myself,” Mandy Aragon said.

“To be honest, I wish I tried harder in school: actually did the homework and went to teachers for help,” Nick Pitchan said.

“I wish I got involved with clubs like DECA and North Star earlier,” Adam Odisho said.

“Be outgoing. I still am a very quiet, shy person, and I didn’t meet many people because I didn’t talk to many people,” Miriam Blumenthal said.

“[I wish I did] not let myself get easily peer pressured,” Jeff Noel said.

Each of these reflections may not pertain to every underclassman, but try to be honest with yourself and open to the pieces of advice that could be beneficial.

Personally, when I was a Freshman, I heard very similar advice. While I may have inadvertently followed aspects of the advice above, I allowed my path in high school to form and flow based on whims. I loathed advice from seniors; I felt as though their gesture carried an undue sense of superiority.

Now as a rising senior, I see the other side. When seniors or juniors are passing along advice in earnest, they see themselves in you and only wish to express to their younger selves the lessons they learned too late.

Ultimately, the path you carve in high school is your own with your own smooth curves and bumps along the way. Keep an open eye on the future and an open ear for advice, but realize that you cannot predict the future and will need to trust your best judgment. When upperclassmen reflect, they are looking back at a fully completed puzzle; looking forward, there is no way they would or could know exactly how the pieces might fall for different decisions. For this reason, allow yourself to learn as events transpire. The lessons that come from personal experience can help yourself in the future as well as the next generation -should you choose to share it with them.