As a senior, I can tell you with absolute confidence that senior year has been great. I’ve been able to relax a lot more than previously, and my future has been basically been confirmed, for at least the next few years.

And can I just say, graduation couldn’t come any sooner. However, with all the spotlight on the new Starr’s Mill graduates and their proud families, the siblings living in that shadow tend to be pushed to the side.

While most of the attention is targeted to the graduating siblings and their excitement, the younger sibling gets an entirely different perspective on the whole process as an onlooker.

Senior Sarah Kelly was a sophomore when her older brother graduated.Through her watching his progress during senior year, she experienced a whole plethora of emotions.

“I was very proud of him, and was glad to see his hard work paying off,” Kelly said.

However, she did not look forward to him leaving the upcoming fall, because he was one of her best friends. Through his graduation, Kelly is now more prepared for her upcoming graduation.

Junior Gabriel Jones’ perspective of his older brother graduating was as an eleven-year-old, so college was not as prominent on his mind as it was with Kelly.

“I remember just wondering what was in the diploma folder,” Jones said when asked his thoughts on his brother receiving his diploma.

They were close, and he felt the absence when his brother left.

“He used to train me for football and other sports,” Jones said.

When Jones graduates next year, he and his family will be more prepared as they have already experienced it once previously.

Junior Dhara Phadiar watched her older sister graduate when she was in eighth grade. She remembers being surprised when her sister got into her first college, as it became much more real to her. This emotion of it becoming much more real was also experienced by Senior Tori Davis when her older brother graduated.

The ability to see someone older than you graduate before you do is an advantage given to younger siblings who have gotten front seats to the whole process.  

The realization that the whole process of senior year is closer than you thought is something that I didn’t get as the older sibling. I ended up having to maneuver the entire thing by myself mostly, as my parents never had to do something like this and would not have been able to help me.

I didn’t have anyone to tell me how hard it would be to click the “submit” button for my first college application, something that actually caused me to miss the deadline for the University of Georgia. Even though the application had been completely finished, it still wasn’t good enough.

If you are a younger sibling, however, you would not have to undergo the same problems a first-time senior would have. My younger brother and other younger siblings will get the benefit of watching their older siblings in the spotlight until it will be their turn to follow their senior siblings’ footsteps.

It is an honor to be a sibling of a senior, even if you may not be the one in the spotlight.

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