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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at IUP chapter.

Being a teenager can be rough with all of the new changes happening in your life. I am in the last two days of being a teenager until I turn twenty this week. It is crazy to think about all that I have been through these past six years of being a teenager. I have learned so many lessons, made many friends, and lost some on the way; in fact, I even graduated high school in the middle of a pandemic. Experiencing the life of a teenager is a whole new era than it was when our parents were that age. Turning sixteen and being able to drive on your own, turning eighteen and being able to vote and officially be an adult…it is crazy to think about! Imagine your thirteenth birthday, and what you have accomplished in the many years you were a teenager up until now. 

I remember just a week after I turned sixteen, I immediately went to the closest DMV near me and took my permit test. Of course, I studied hard for it and reviewed the questions over and over. I passed on my first try, and I was so surprised because I did not believe in myself enough to actually think I would pass. After six months of practicing driving and constantly driving with my parents, I scheduled my driver’s test. I passed on my first try, and I was so excited! The thrill of being able to drive on my own felt amazing. Two years later, I turned eighteen and was finally an adult. I could go to rated R movies by myself, stay out later than my curfew, vote, and even buy lottery tickets. Everyone calls these two birthdays the “big birthdays,” because of all the exciting events that take place.

After turning nineteen last October, here I am in my room writing this article and thinking about how I am going to be twenty this week. It is crazy to think that in only one more year I will be able to legally drink. Turning twenty puts you into a new decade, your twenties! I am surprised I made it this far, and now it is time to think about my future after my twenties are over. My future career, graduating college, meeting the love of my life someday, and getting married. There are so many exciting new things that happen in each decade of our lives, and it is amazing to think that my teenage decade is almost over. 

Emily Beyer is a writer at the Her Campus Chapter at IUP. Beyond Her Campus, Emily works at a local elementary schools after school program and oversees a group of K-2 graders. She has been to many professional development conferences to further her studies in education. Emily is a senior at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania majoring in Early Childhood & Special Education. In her free time, Emily loves to write, shop, watch Grey's Anatomy, and listen to podcasts. Also, she enjoys going to the gym and working out as a distraction from her studies.