The first bell rings. Outside, heat still fills the air, and within the closed hallways of Edwardsville High School, students bustle anxiously to class.

For 75 percent of students, it is simply another first day of high school. For that remaining 25 percent, however, it is the beginning of the very end.

“We’ve been going to school for eleven years,” said Grant Connoyer, a high school senior. “Even though it’s August, a lot of us are ready to be done.”

That indeed seems to be the feelings of most seniors. For some however, it isn’t the freedom or the escape that is most appealing to them; it is the thought of college.

“I’ve been going on college visits since sophomore year,” said Sydney Biethman, sporting a crew neck for Northern Illinois University. “At this point one of my legs is already out the door.”

Though there is a lot of excitement to graduate high school, it is only natural for seniors to look back just as fondly.

“We’ve had a lot happen over the years,” Biethman said. “I mean, going to school and living with our parents is all we’ve ever known. I’m ready to go, but I doubt everyone else is.”

Though students like Biethman perhaps feel very prepared to head off to college, it is only reasonable to believe that there will be several students who will be taking alternative paths after high school.

“I plan on heading straight into the workforce,”  Connoyer said. “Why pile on the debt when I’m just starting off?”

Nevertheless, whatever a student’s plan may be, one things certain: seniors have a whole year to go before they can be free.