Spring is finally here -- thank God -- and at Marriotts Ridge High School, its arrival means preparing to see off our first class of graduating seniors. And while all the seniors might be heading off into big adventures in the real world, I've found they're leaving behind just as much. So I've compiled a list: the top 10 things we can learn from the seniors as their final year winds down.

1. Procrastination. The first legacy that comes to mind when I begin to think about the life-lessons our seniors have taught us. It seems that senioritis -- that chronic disease affecting one's ability to concentrate, desire to apply oneself and willingness to study -- is communicable. Not only has it infected the seniors, but it has also begun to seep down through the younger grades. I admit it -- I myself am a victim. Just last night I was faced with the dilemma: to do my physics homework or succumb to the lure of my Facebook page. Tragically, Facebook won out.

2. The art of ordering a limo for prom. Who knew finding transportation could be such a challenge? Apparently, there isn't a limo in existence that will drive my friends and me to the Marriott and back for less than $2,500. We were forced to choose between arriving in style ... or arriving without a cloud of debt equivocal to that which accompanies a college education. In the end, the desire to avoid bankruptcy proved to be greater and we arranged to be taken by a party bus.

3. Attention gentlemen: the seniors have demonstrated that no matter how awkward, unattractive or unfriendly you are, the determining factor in getting a prom date is the way in which you choose to ask the object of your affections. Try making an announcement over the loudspeakers, decorating her car, or, if you're feeling really ambitious, parachuting from a moving helicopter.

4. Spice Girls never go out of style. The senior girls who attended the Spice Girls reunion tour and the pictures they showed off on Facebook afterward, proved that although we might be approaching adulthood, no one is ever too old for the Spice Girls.

5. It is acceptable to brag about graduating early, but only to the seniors. It's becoming their favorite activity -- rubbing it in our faces that we're going to be trapped inside, forcing ourselves to take finals, make up snow days and (God forbid) learn while they can drive off into the sunset. I'm sure that if I was a senior, I'd be taking a huge amount of pleasure in this fact as well. But as I'm a junior, it kind of makes me hate them a little bit.

6. Front row parking is for seniors only. Well, technically, no students are supposed to park there. But, displaying a scandalous bravery that can only be revered, but never imitated by underclassmen, the seniors at Marriotts Ridge park in the front anyway. And, most awe-inspiring of all, no one attempts to stop them. But if -- hypothetically of course -- a junior dared to park in that forbidden territory, they'd surely encounter the utmost resistance.

7. The girls lacrosse seniors have left our team with an important lesson: pasta parties can be classified as an Olympic sport, and to be a lacrosse player, you have to be a champion. The freshmen were ill-prepared to deal with our most recent party at Bob Evans restaurant. Their half-eaten pancakes looked slightly pathetic compared to the superhuman feast of the seniors: bread, pancakes, eggs, cake and most importantly, biscuits. They've undeniably left us a lot to live up to.

8. Never having tried one myself, I guess I'll have to take the seniors' word for it: there is no greater beverage than a Rockstar or Red Bull. Random, I know, but I thought it would be a crime not to mention one of the chief senior obsessions.

9. Duties are to be carried out by freshmen. Lucky for the junior class at Marriotts Ridge, there were no seniors here when we opened the school almost three years ago. Watching the way the seniors now gleefully take advantage of the underclassmen, I've begun to realize how fortunate we were to avoid the indignity of acting as the seniors' personal servants. On the other hand, all the juniors are studying up, preparing for the day in the near future when we will be the ones handing down the orders. This is, for us, the most exciting prospect of our upcoming senior year.

10. Graduation never means goodbye. I've never attended a school with graduating seniors before; all I know is that none of us are ready to see our first seniors leave (well, maybe they're ready, but that's a different story). All I can say is this: we'll miss you and hope to see you again soon.

Sara Olsen is a junior at Marriotts Ridge High School. You can e-mail her at cdumler@theviewnewspapers.com.

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