As I walk down the bustling fourth floor corridor on my way to U.S. History class on a recent day, one topic comes up repeatedly. It’s not the horrific conditions of the Middle Passage or the distinction between the Puritans and the Pilgrims – the hot topic in the hallway these days is inevitably college.

“What colleges are you going to apply to? Where have you visited? What did College Counseling say?” Despite the fact that junior year has only just begun and we are barely halfway through our high school careers, my classmates and I are already fretting over our futures after we graduate from Parker.

The problem with our focus on the distant college future is that we, as students, are missing out on the here and now.

I am not above this college fixation. As I moved my brother into college at the end of this summer, I found myself imagining my own college future and where my parents and I might be unpacking my belongings and decorating the walls with Chicago posters two years from now. “Do I want cold or warm? Big or small? Urban or rural?”

But when we fret so early and so much, we are prioritizing our future education over the education we have access to in the present. While college may be more expensive, high school classes like U.S. History don’t merely teach dates and facts. They give students the tools we need to succeed after we graduate, especially in college. These tools consist of how to read and efficiently annotate an essay, how to write a paper, and how to successfully debate, etc.

But the issue is not simply that we’re missing out on the educational opportunities of high school — it’s also that we are failing to appreciate what is special about now. Staying present in the moment doesn’t just apply to high school, it applies to our entire life as we jump from one phase to the next. If we constantly look forward to the next milestone, we’ll pass by countless opportunities and experiences that are once-in-a-lifetime — one of which, I believe, is high school.

I get that it’s impossible to completely tune out college, and it’s unwise too. Preparing for the ACT or SAT can require many months of studying, so students are forced to think about what schools they plan to apply to, and thus, what scores they should aim for. It’s also necessary to think at least a little bit about what you want to do after you graduate.

This kind of thinking becomes a problem, however, when students center their whole high school experience around how to appear most qualified for colleges – choosing extracurriculars based on “how good they look,” or taking specific classes/tracks because of how they want to come across as a student. It’s one thing to push yourself to be the best student you can be; it’s another to push yourself to be the best student you can appear to be.

In recent college counseling meetings, it’s been emphasized that high school is a place to focus on finding your passion. When we focus purely on how to come across as interesting or intelligent, we are missing out on a perfect opportunity to try out new things. Now is the perfect time to fail because later, life won’t be as forgiving. Students miss this opportunity when doing – or not doing – things based on how they look.

This year I am going to push myself to focus on college only when necessary. College is a wonderful time and a great opportunity (or so I’ve been told), but so is high school. As junior year continues, and college talk picks up, I will remind myself not to let it all get to my head, and to instead live in the now.