It’s 12:30 a.m on a Wednesday morning and you find yourself in the peculiar position of writing about your eternal search for the perfect doughnut because the University of North Carolina decided they must know something about you that isn’t shown anywhere else in your application. For some inexplicable reason, you chose to inform them about your everlasting struggle to balance your allergies with your love of doughnuts, because that is the profound information colleges want to know about you, right? Welcome to first semester senior year.

AHS seniors have been cautioned about the struggle of balancing sports, school, and applying to college since entering high school, but that still doesn’t change the ongoing panic that has occurred since August.

As I began trying to brainstorm ideas on how to survive senior year, I realized that I have only been a senior 29 days, and am severely under qualified to give advice. In fact I think I could use some advice myself. Recent AHS grad, Juliette Woodrow, is an expert on making it through senior with minimal meltdowns, and had some words of advice. Below are some responses from Juliette when I asked her for some advice on her second day at Stanford University.

What is your biggest piece of advice for seniors?

Definitely spend your free time with your friends and family rather than stressing out because everything will work out.

What kept you going when you got overwhelmed?

I had an image of where I wanted to be in a year and where I saw myself, so when I got stressed or overwhelmed I was like, it will be worth it to be where I want in a year. I also would say I slept a lot. I think that you just need to make sure you use your time effectively and still have time to sleep, sleep is so important.

How did you balance school, applying to college and sports?

For sports if you are ever overwhelmed definitely talk to your coaches and your teachers because for the most part they are understanding. I think people get worked up a lot about college, and where everyone else is applying, and who is applying to the same school as them, and I think you just need to not worry about and focus on yourself and what you can do to help your situation because that other stuff is out of your control.

Now that you have graduated, is there anything that you wish you could tell your past self?

One thing that I am thankful for that I did is that I had really close relationships with my teachers in high school, and I have been able to email them and stuff about deciding which classes I’m going to take in college. I just talked to Cerena about this education class I’m taking and she has been able to give me some good feedback. I also wish I could tell myself don’t stress out so much about the little things, but that’s so hard because it is so easy to stress out like at the time, even telling myself that I probably still would have stressed out. I would tell past Juliette don’t take yourself too seriously, have fun, meet new people, don’t worry about what other people are going to think

Most high schoolers dream of finally reaching to top of the food chain and becoming seniors, but getting through it takes a lot of hard work and determination. What I have realized though in my brief time is how important it is to make time for yourself. Whether that just means spending your Saturday’s catching up on tv, or the occasional face mask and cup of tea, focusing on your own care is very important if you plan on surviving the year.

*This interview has been edited for clarity