By Jillian McClure
The anticipation builds all year, and then the day is finally near. Seniors anticipate their eighteenth birthdays with thoughts of freedom, adulthood, and maybe even tattoos.
Dominic Kennedy, senior, is one of the first to turn 18 this year. As a child, Kennedy looked forward to the ages that brought new freedoms like driving at 16 and being an adult at 18. Now that he is a legal adult, Kennedy feels that not as many changes happen as one might think.
“I just feel like everything is the same thing,” Kennedy said.
Although many things are the same, Kennedy has noticed a change in his responsibilities.
“I wanted to have my own responsibilities and do what I want to do. But it has changed…you have a lot more to do,” Kennedy said.
Marla Kober, Dean of Students, says that despite popular belief, high school is not the best time in someone’s life.
“I think it can be an awesome time, but I think that there are a lot of things that come after high school that are so much more awesome than high school,” Kober said.
Kober also knows from personal experience that seniors who turn 18 are ready to get out of their parent’s houses and graduate high school.
“I think, probably, what most 18 year olds look forward too is being out on their own,” Kober said.
As a dean, Kober often gets questions regarding students who are 18.
“The biggest question we always get is, ‘Can I write my own excuse notes?’ No you can’t,” Kober said.
Kennedy’s parents told him that since he is 18 now, they won’t remind him to do his chores anymore. “It’s just mostly my responsibility now as part of becoming an adult,” Kennedy said.
Although students have no extra privileges in high school at 18, they can legally get tattoos and piercings without parental consent. Kennedy wanted to wait until he was 18 to get a tattoo.
“It’s going to be more meaningful than just something stupid. [I am getting] a family tree on my back with all my family’s names in the tree,” Kennedy said.
Kober says that even though seniors do not have extra privileges at 18, as twelfth graders they can have a shortened schedule which allows them to come in late or leave early.
