The hardest part of being a student now is the pressure that comes with knowing that this is it. It is like approaching the high dive at the swimming pool. Being a student is like walking the edge of the pool and climbing up the ladder to the diving board. The water is the real world where all you lessons that you have learned in the pool about how to swim, breathe, float and so on, are now going to be put to the test—in a real way. As a student you sometimes forget about this fact because you are so immersed in your studies. You forget to look up over the edge of the book and see that the real world is waiting to see what you are made of. You know that before long you will have to prove yourself by taking flight from the high dive and letting all your learning and instincts honed and trained through years of schooling take over. Just knowing that you will have to either sink or swim when it is all said and done is a significant pressure that sits on your shoulders.

The best part about being a student is that this weight is not something you have to carry alone. As a student you make all sorts of new friends and form many new relationships. You recognize that everyone is in this together and that your peers want to form a community with you—a support network—that you all can use as you make the big leap into real life. Knowing that your friends are watching as you climb that ladder and push yourself out to the edge of that diving board, knowing that they are going to be there for you when you hit the water and come up for air—that is the best part of being a student.

The advice I would give a younger sibling or friend is this: know that you are not alone, and know that everyone in school is facing the same unknowns. Be supportive always. You get out of life exactly what you put into it.