By OLIVIA FOLMAR / Guest Columnist

I knew that this summer, the summer after I graduated high school, would be different from every other summer that I have spent.

I knew this even before my senior year began; however, I didn’t know how the absence of small things I thought I would never miss and the presence of big things I’d never thought of before would make this season so unlike all the ones before it.

As far back as my memory reaches, summer has been full of relaxation, school supply lists and required reading. Not so this summer.

Now, while other students are begrudgingly reading “Pride and Prejudice” and “Lord of the Flies” and will be shopping shortly for binders, spiral notebooks and black or blue pens, I, as well as several other recent graduates, find myself reading recommended course syllabi and purchasing slightly bigger school supplies – for instance, the laptop that I am typing this article on right now.

Most of my time is spent, not at the pool or the mall or on vacation, but at my job at the local Piggly Wiggly. I don’t use the money I make to buy whatever I want like I used to do with the money I made from odd jobs – most of it goes towards my car payment and gas.

Every other school year has been planned out almost six months in advance for me – I knew what classes I was going to take and who my teachers were going to be far in advance. This year, I will have less than two months notice about the classes I will take and I will have never met any of the teachers. I won’t know the majority of my classmates, and they won’t know me.

I did not set out writing this article to make you, the reader, pity my financial state, my limited free time and the uncertainty I feel about the future — I don’t even mind these things so much. It’s been the jump from everyone considering me a child. Although I’m sure my parents will always think of me as their baby, the world is putting all of this responsibility in my hands.

I wrote this article to say that I accept these challenges. I am moving into another chapter and this transition period is only the prologue. I am sure that grads will agree —

although high school was great and I will miss it, I’m glad this new life is on the horizon