Senior class leads by example

The status of "high school senior" comes with a great amount of responsibility but an even greater amount of enviability. After all, who doesn't want to be a senior? Along with the role of leader on campus come privileges and access to things lower classmen only dream about.

At New Life Christian High School, seniors are granted off-campus lunch, half days and a list of other advantages. As sophomore Leanna Whiteley said with her hand over her heart, "Being a senior would be like my dream come true."

However, being a senior at NLCHS isn't just your normal "take-apart-the-principal's-car-and-put-it-back-together-on-the-roof-while-we-ditch-school-and-act-superior" routine; at least not all the time. Being a senior, or any student, at this school, we are called to a much higher purpose.

The responsibility, if one chooses to accept it, is to be a role model, godly influence and motivating force in the students' and even faculty's lives. By doing so, we create an atmosphere that is both positive and influential. No matter how much people deny it, we look up to those older than us, whether we look to them to remind us what not to do, or whether it is in a respectful, admiring manner.

My desire is to be a catalyst, which means to change the atmosphere around me without myself being changed. It is imperative for this year's senior class to affect the change, not be changed by the effect. Every senior enrolled at NLCHS is there for a specific purpose and has been ordained by God to serve the students in an influential way. Our duty as his children is to follow the calling he has placed on our lives. Presently, the calling is to be at New Life Christian School.

Am I being bold in my declaration of the role of this year's seniors? Of course, but I believe I have to be. I believe that you, Reader, need to know that we are and will be different, even exceptional.

As I encounter this year, I'm confronted with many different emotions: fear, elation, apprehension and anticipation, to name a few. I know it will be difficult, but I also know it will be very rewarding. It's my last year of high school (an overwhelming concept all on its own), so I might as well give it all I have. The reality is I'll never get the chance again. What do I have to lose?

So yes, the senior duties at New Life Christian might exceed those of other schools, but I have faith in those duties and am ready for the challenges this year will bring.

Haley Waters is a senior at New Life Christian High School. Her column appears about every sixth week in Education.