School’s Out…What Now?
Photo by Katie Lam (Graduation 2025)
The last day of school has a kind of magic to it. You hand in that final exam paper, empty out your locker, and suddenly the air feels lighter. No more deadlines. No more 3am study sessions. No more bells telling you that the last page of your math final is going to be turned in blank. Just pure freedom.
Graduating makes it feel even bigger. It’s not just the end of a school year—it’s the end of an era. One chapter closes, and now you’re staring at this wide-open summer stretched out in front of you. The question naturally creeps in: School’s out… What now?
At first, freedom feels a little strange. For years, your life is built around a schedule. You know what your weeks look like, down to the minute. Suddenly, the calendar is blank. No homework. No due dates. Just you. Maybe post-secondary is one summer away, or a gap year opportunity of exploring identity is just beginning, or maybe you’re preparing for a new job. And while it’s tempting to spend hours scrolling TikTok or watching Netflix on autoplay, here’s the thing: summer is too short to let it blur together on a screen.
This season is about pausing, celebrating how far you’ve come, and letting yourself try things you didn’t have time for before. It’s about touching some grass—literally. Go on that random hike. Say yes to a pickup basketball game. Try baking something wild just because you feel like it. Learn guitar even if your fingers hurt after five minutes (All guitarists have my respect, I really do not understand your finger dexterity). Get in the ocean, even if it’s freezing. The world feels different when you give yourself permission to play.
For me, joy looked like saying yes to little things. Late-night drives with no destination. Getting McDonalds dollar ice cream cones just because. Spontaneous beach days where we ended up staying long enough to watch the sunset. I picked up hobbies I’d pushed off during the school year, like photography and baking, and remembered how good it feels to do something just for fun.
Reflection had its place too. Summer gave me space to look back and be grateful for the memories high school gave me: the clubs, the band practices, the lunchtime walks to get food, the friendships that carried me through late-night studying and early-morning classes. Graduation feels like a finish line, but it’s really just a doorway. Looking back reminded me to carry the spirit of joy and play into whatever comes next.
And here’s the reminder I had to give myself: joy doesn’t always look like the highlight reels you see online. It’s so easy to compare your summer to someone else’s Instagram story. But some of my favorite moments were simple and unpolished—like absolutely getting ragebaited when playing Dutch Blitz at the park with my friends (no seriously, this game brings our a whole other side of me!), or being completely gassed the first time I tried running. Those memories aren’t “aesthetic,” but they’re real, and they stick.
So if you’re staring at summer wondering, what now? Here's my take: don’t waste it doomscrolling. Social media will still be there when September comes. Instead, go outside, see your friends, try new things, and let yourself rest without guilt. Pick up that hobby you’ve been curious about. Watch a sunset without recording it. Make space for joy, even in small ways.
School’s out. And that’s not just an ending—it’s an invitation. To pause. To play. To touch grass. To savor this season in ways a screen could never give you. Because those are the memories that will stick long after the summer ends.
To the grads of 2026: best of luck on what the future holds for you, you’ve got this!
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