As a high school student and teenage girl, I can’t believe in a couple of years I’ll be on my own. College and other future responsibilities aren’t far away; I only have one more year of high school left once this year is over.

I wonder if anyone else feels the same way. I’m too embarrassed to really ask my peers and friends out loud, but deep down I know the same thoughts linger in their minds. Money for college is the biggest worry for me; I wonder how in the world I will be able to pay for college myself without any help from my parents. I don’t expect my parents to pay for my college and I don’t want them to pay for my college. Once I’m on my own I want to take responsibility for myself, I want to live on my own, have my own job and support my own bills. It’s all so much to think about and realistically, it almost seems impossible. How can a teenager whom just graduated from high school be able to care for his or herself without a proper good paying job?

I know there is financial aid, scholarships, grants, etc, but I’m still worried. Getting a good education is my main goal and I’ll stick to that goal. I don’t expect to move out of my parents’ house as soon as I graduate, it’s just not realistic. Despite reality I would like to get out on my own as soon as possible once I get on my feet. This is all that’s whizzing in my head; these are all my worries.

I believe a lot of my peers worry about similar things. Growing up is hard and it’s a lot to fathom all at once. The thought of moving out of your parents’ 24/7 supervision and living on your own as a young adult is exciting and scary. You have the excitement of freedom but have the responsibility of bills and getting a good paying job. In my mind I’m worried about the stress level I’ll have later once I move out, I would imagine I would have to work possibly more than one part time job to earn the education I want. Still I’ll do whatever it takes to earn that education.

I just wanted to send this message out to all future seniors: No matter the outcome anything is possible. I know this may sound like a cheesy line out of a dramatic fairytale, but I believe even in hard times we’re capable of doing whatever we set our mind to. Growing up is scary but we’re all growing up together, we’ll all pull through and we’ll all get to where we need to be. Life is hard but if our parents and teachers did it, we can do it too.

 I’m glad to have great role models in my life and hopefully I’ll grow up to become one of these role models for younger generations in our future. Just remember, even if things may seem hard, things will always turn out for the better and everything will work out, even if that calls me to work two part time jobs in the future to earn my college education.