Your senior year of high school is one of the most hectic and stressful times of your life. The panic of applying to college, and then choosing a college, all while keeping up with school and trying to make the best memories will pass by in a whirlwind. Before you know it, your last high school spring break is approaching, and with it, your last chance to take a breath and do something fun before the chaos of the end of the year sweeps you up. Whether relaxing means laying on a beach somewhere or just chilling at home, we’ve got some ideas to help you make the most of your last high school spring break!
1. Go on a trip with your friends
Chances are, once senior year ends you and your BFFs are heading off to different colleges. Social media and cell phones make it so much easier to stay in touch with long distance friends, but this is the last time that you and your high school friends are going to be together every day, experiencing the same things. Going on a trip together is great way to celebrate the end of your high school career.
“My senior year, about 15 of my friends rented a big house in New Orleans. We made the road trip and had an amazing time,” said Rachel Petty, a recent grad of James Madison University. Going with a big group is a great way to keep costs low. Whether it’s a road trip to somewhere you’ve always been dying to go or a couple of nights at a friend’s beach house getaway, you’ll spend your spring break laughing with your best friends and making memories that you’ll never forget. If you’re looking to go somewhere a little more expensive, asking your parents to chip in is a great option for a graduation present.
2. Have a staycation
If traveling just isn’t in the cards for your spring break, you can still have a fabulous vacation at home! Have a spa day with your girlfriends, treat yourself to a mani-pedi, anything that makes you feel luxurious. By the time spring break rolls around, you’ve most likely just finished the colleges process, which is one of the most stressful times of your high school career. So take the time over spring break to rest and recharge so that you can make the most of the end of senior year.
3. Visit your favorite places around town
The closer you get to graduation, the more nostalgic you are going to get for the place that you’ve spent the last years of your life, so take some time to remember where it is you come from. Meet your friends for late night dinners at your favorite restaurants, spend the day at the local thrift store go for a picnic in the park you played in when you were little. Go for walks around the neighborhood you grew up in, and drive down the streets that are as familiar as the back of your hand. Little things like that are what you are going to miss when you go off to college, especially if you are going somewhere far away, so take some time to reminisce about the places you love.
4. Go on a family vacation
The end of senior year can become very focused on making memories with friends, but soon you’re going to be living without your family, maybe for the first time in your life. “For my senior year, I knew I wanted to do something big for my last spring break. So I gathered up the fam and planned a trip to Disney!” says Emily Veith, a recent grad of California Polytechnic State University. “Disneyland was having an awesome discount for 3-day park tickets, and so we went to both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. It was so much fun, and I had great quality time with the fam before graduating.” Do some research on discount family trips (your parents are more likely to say yes if you’ve done the work for them!)
5. Go somewhere you’ve never been in your area
Even when you’ve lived in the same place your whole life, there are often towns or cities a couple hours away that you’ve never explored or been to. An entire week of nothing to do is the perfect time to drive a couple hours away to visit somewhere new. You can spend the day in a random town and find out its best kept secret, or drive to the world-famous restaurant that’s just a couple towns over that you never had the time to try. Do the touristy things in your state that you never bothered to do before.
6. Work
It may sound boring compared to everything else listed above, but you’re not going to regret having some extra cash around if you work over spring break.
“My senior year I worked at my job as a hostess all through my spring break,” said Caroline Bennett, a freshman at the College of the Holy Cross. “I was able to pick up a lot of extra shifts during the week that I was normally at school for. It was great to get a jump start on my summer savings, because obviously college is expensive and I knew I was going to have to save as much as a I could.” Working over spring break will give you a little bit of a safety net if you can’t find a job right at the beginning of the summer, or it can go toward funding something for the end of the school year like your prom dress or a cute pair of shoes for graduation. If you don’t have a job, ask around for some babysitting gigs, because if you’re on break then some parents in town probably need to watch their kids who are also on vacation.
Whatever you decide to do over spring break, focus on making happy memories with the people you love and care about. Your life is going to change come fall, and you’re always going to look back on spring break and the end of senior year with comfort and familiarity. So make the most of the last few months of life as you know it, and step outside of your comfort zone to try new things while you have the chance to!