It is late September, 2023. For the Naperville North Class of 2024, life is busy, to put it mildly. GPA’s, SAT’s, ACT’s, and every other three-letter acronym are now its central focus. As the college pursuit begins to take full swing, students are (or at least will be!) caught up in a whirlwind of emotions— perhaps a signal of adulthood. But while we still live with our parents, live under someone else’s bill payments, and do not yet hold the right to vote (for the vast majority of the school’s 17-year-old seniors), have we truly reached such a point? Are we warranted in calling ourselves adults, when such a degree of self-sufficiency is yet to be met?

Many, including myself, love to think of ourselves as adults— after all, the urge to mature, grow, and eventually lead an independent life is an exciting prospect for many. We like to picture ourselves as adults, taking accountability for our morning routines, driving ourselves each and every day, and laying the path for a future with an educational institution. We feel that we are in increasing control of our lives, just mere months away from a life without parents, making our own meals and setting our own personal wellness standards. Legally even, the age of adulthood is once more just a few distant months away. If we are so close to adulthood in every facet of life— the law, our civic duties, and a life away in our own first homes— is it possible for us to not be adults?

The answer to that, both objectively and subjectively, is quite complex. Numerous studies, for instance, have shown that brain development does not cease within the average person until the age of twenty-five. Does the ability to think critically at one’s highest degree determine the status of one’s adulthood? Maybe it does. Perhaps it does not. However, it would be incorrect to say that the vast majority of our learning has already taken place, that the vast majority of our brain development has already taken place (as is the case for most, at least). Ahead of us still lies a life outside high school, whether that be at a university, trade school, the military, or the workforce. These post-secondary experiences, arguably, hold even more value than that found in a traditional high school setting. Theory and academics are great, but knowing their place in the real world— a world full of successes, failures, and potential— serves as a world far beyond the scope of academia. How would a mastering of Calculus BC, for instance, guide you through weeks of jam-packed classes, chores, and extra-curriculars in college? Perhaps it would do nothing— after all, what does Calculus have to do with maintaining a balanced life schedule? But perhaps someone, a true adult, if that’s what you want to call it, would reflect on their experiences with Calculus BC— itself a rigorous course in need to intense time management— and apply aspects of their high school study-schedule to their new, bustling life within a university campus. This, for many including myself, serves as the true definition of adulthood. A self-sufficiency not merely focused on self-reliance, but on self-prosperity.

So, after establishing a definition of adulthood, does this mean that we still pertain to the definition of “childhood”? Once again, the answer is tricky, blurry, and frankly inconclusive. Some would say that we are still “adolescents”, a bridge between childhood and adulthood imbued with physical, mental, social, and psychological changes. Others would say the term only refers to physical and mental changes associated with puberty, a point which many have passed already by their senior year of high school. But the meaning that these two viewpoints share in common, and one that is very much rooted in truth, is that the Class of 2024— and, frankly, hundreds of thousands of fellow high school seniors across the nation— fit neither the traditional notions of “childhood” nor “adulthood” in our current circumstances.

How do we view ourselves then? Should we live by an overestimation of maturity, looking at the world through the eyes of an adult, looking to our futures? Or should our approach to life, at least for the time being, take a more light-hearted approach, centered around living in the moment and enjoying life as a child, as a high school student? A correct answer will never exist. But, as life has taught us and told us so many times, the answer lies somewhere within the realm of balance. So look to the future, dream big, and accomplish big things. After all, a future of prosperity is a future worth striving for. But prosper in the moment too. Take a day off from stressing over your college essays. Come home and distance yourself from school, your job, and your activities for an hour. After all, a future of contentment starts with a moment of contentment. Let that moment be now.