By: Summer Bixler

With graduation season right around the corner, everyone is racing to prepare.

When it comes to meeting your high school and college deadlines, as well as getting fun graduation preparations done, everything can be quite a handful. Many people may not know where to start, and everyone’s preparation looks different.

Bellbrook High School seniors weren’t afraid to hide their jittery emotions and their graduation plans. “I’m just a little nervous to give a speech,” senior class president Emma Jenkins said. “Before graduation, I’m trying to finish out the year strong by doing well in my CCP classes and AP exams. I’m also completing any senior tasks like submitting my transcripts and finalizing college decisions.”

“I am a little stressed for graduation, mainly about the logistics of the day and how busy it will be,” senior Landon Adams said. “To prepare, I am keeping up with the updates posted on Classroom and via email to ensure I am not missing any important information.”

For people who don’t know where to start with their preparation, here’s a list of tasks to complete to ease your mind, starting from most to least urgent.

Finish Strong
Keep in mind that some colleges require a final transcript, so stay on top of your work until the very end of school. Study for exams and push through, even when you feel like you’re done. To be extra ahead, work on being able to exempt exams, giving you extra time to prepare for the big day. The usual requirements for exempting exams usually involves grades and attendance, so stay on track and finish strong.

Before the school year ends, make sure that you pay off all of your school fees. This is usually a requirement for most schools, so don’t let some small fees hold you back. Talk to your counselors and ask what you need to pay.

Mark Your Calendar
To ensure that you don’t forget any events, add all important dates to your calendar. This could include exams, senior awards, graduation practice, and of course graduation. The last thing you want to do is miss an important event and feel more behind and stressed. Add notifications to your calendar to guarantee that you won’t forget. Set a reminder for the day before and the morning of any event.

Have Fun

Now that you are almost fully prepared for graduation, you can move on to all of the little fun details. Get senior pictures, send out invites for your graduation party, plan out and prepare for the party, and get your outfit ready to walk the stage. Most importantly, have fun. Make memories, laugh, cry, and celebrate the huge achievements that you and your peers have accomplished throughout the years.

Speaking of fun, when it comes to graduation parties, they can be one of the most fun and one of the most stressful parts of graduation. When trying to ensure that you will be able to go to as many parties as possible, put them in order of soonest to latest and find a schedule that fits the most important ones, or as many as possible.