So we’ve done it…mostly. We’re in the home stretch, the last quarter of the year before returning to a life of summer sun, close friends, and, for some of us, packing for college. This should be our time to relax, to chill out and to remember all we’ve done this year and how far we’ve come. Right?

Wrong. So, so wrong. Welcome to The Last Quarter Crisis where you realize how badly you slacked off in the third nine-weeks and that your finals can make or break your grade. Welcome to ACT and SAT, to AP exams and college tours — all to prepare you for a future that feels so unreachable even this close to the end.

You see, the last quarter is not just a “quarter.” It’s a pull-your-hair-out sprint to the finish line as we stumble through tests and homework until we run out the doors and don’t look back.

Juniors are cramming for the tests that will make or break college decisions. They’re touring schools, picking majors, and fluctuating between panic and uncertainty in advance of the future looming down on them.

Seniors are suffering from Acute Senioritis, a common disease that occurs when your grades “don’t matter anymore.” Most know where they’re going and know it’s too late to change anything. But as they finish selecting roommates, dorms, and majors, the only thing left is an existential crisis about whether or not they’re making the right decision.

As for teachers? Summer is a break for them, too, and in anticipation of that break, they either shove as much material down their students’ throats as possible…or let their students watch movies so they can coast until summer.

So the entire school is a jumbled mess of both hyper-productivity and laziness. And as the days get warmer, that fracture gets worse until the most common sentence spoken in the halls is “I’m so done with this.”

But as we rush through our school days, praying and waiting for the end, we forget one thing. By the time those weeks are up, half of the school will be gone. The seniors will never attend North Allegheny again, and as they move on toward their futures, despite how tempting the end may seem, it is still the end.

As for juniors, they will never get back their junior year. Yes, it is stressful, but once the last bell rings they have one year left to appreciate. One year before they scatter as well.

School may not be easy or fun most of the time. Usually, it’s an undue source of stress and havoc on all of our lives, but the clock is ticking down. Instead of the stress school has given us, remember the friends you’ve made and the people you love.

It will all be gone soon and, yes, that is just the start of something good. But it also marks the end of something good.

So slow down. Take a deep breath and start to jog to that finish line. Remember the good as well as the bad, and remember that high school doesn’t last forever. The true “crisis” of the last quarter would be forgetting that.