From W Beasy Chicago, it's This American Life. I'm Hannah Joffi Walt sitting in for Ira Glass.

It's a first day of high school, Salt Lake City. A bunch of students are standing around outside in clusters, and the seniors

are wearing little kid backpacks, Ninja Turtles, Hello Kitty, Spider-Man, big 17-18-year-old kids in Winnie the Pooh

backpacks. My colleague Mickey Meek talked to seniors, Estraia and Angie.

So you guys, what is the deal with, what's up with the backpacks why is this a senior thing?

Because like we enter school kindergarten like with kids backpacks you know because we're little kids and then we're like

leaving school with these on as well.

Do you guys have any specific plans you've already made for this year that like you want to

do together because it is your senior year? Actually on Thursday or we're going to go change your classes so we could be like together more.

And like, make sure we have the same lunches and stuff.

You guys are in how many classes together?

Zero.

Yeah. We have none. Which're planning for trying to get the same

class. We're gonna beg our counselor. We're gonna be like we have separation

anxiety like we have to be together. I'm really like Mark because this is like Mark

I'm like Mark please let us be together like we want to enjoy our senior year you know it's our last year together because we're both going different ways.

They are really feeling the last timeness of this year ahead of them. The last year in these

classes, in these halls, in backpacks, the last year of these friendships in this

place with these people. After this, their lives will be different.

All the seniors we talked to had a list of things you have to do senior year.

Stuff they'd seen other kids do before them,

and also all the iconic experiences they'd seen in a million

...