Last week was Thanksgiving break and except for the food, the games, and catching up with family, college applications dominated my time off from school. You know something is wrong with you when college applications surface in your dreams, or rather, nightmares! Nightmares aside, I hope to finish these applications before they are all I can think about.
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Because I decided to apply to my number one college early decision, my application was due last week. The hardest part wasn’t the application itself; it was mustering the courage to click “submit.”
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Fortunately, at the end of each October, my school has a week off called Fall Break. Many juniors and seniors take advantage of this unique time off from school to go visit colleges, as I did. There is no better way to get a taste of what a school is like than to go visit it yourself. Since college will be your home for the next four years, if you have the chance to take a day or two to go visit, it is well worth it.
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My school newspaper, the Union Street Journal, has been my greatest passion and my greatest challenge in high school. Being the paper’s editor has taught me as much about leadership and life as it has about editing and writing. The late nights in the newsroom with Dave Mathews blaring from the same obsessed editor’s computer have provided me with some of my greatest frustrations, and my best memories. And that is precisely why I am sad to say good-bye.

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I have decided to take advantage of early application options for a few of the schools on my college list. Although this decision has accelerated my application deadlines, ultimately I think the reward of hearing back early is worth the extra time I have to spend on applications now. Plus, I’ve got to finish these applications eventually, right? So I figure I might as well get them out of the way now instead of later.

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The first couple weeks back in school were bittersweet. On the one hand, ruling the school and being the top class was great — we have the best hang-out spots, parking spaces, teachers and classes. But on the other hand, the absence of a class ahead of us, a buffer between us and a life away from home, made things a bit lonely.
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First things first — let me introduce myself. My name is Andy Samuels and I am a senior at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, Colorado. Greenwood Village is a suburb 15 minutes south of Denver proper. Most teens’ parents who live in Greenwood Village are professionals who work downtown or at the Denver Tech Center, also located in Greenwood Village. It’s been a wonderful place to grow up, and I have certainly made memories here to last a lifetime.

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