During her first week at FHC, after transferring from Forest Hills Northern (FHN), senior Monia Abbas was terrified to step foot in the lunchroom.
Like most new students in an unfamiliar school experience, Monia didn’t have any friends at FHC. Daunted by the prospect of seeing all the other students enjoying their lunch with their friends, Monia decided to eat in the library instead.
It wasn’t until she left her fourth hour with English teacher Robbin DeMeester on the Monday of her second week that a girl named Caitlin McAllister invited Monia to eat lunch with her and a couple of her friends. It turned out that three of the girls Monia sat with that day would become three of her closest companions: seniors Audrey Blosser, Ellie Mackenzie, and Amna Makic.
From there, Monia, Audrey, Ellie, and Amna began hanging out regularly. From Thanksgiving dinners to Galentines parties, Monia’s connection to FHC was fostered through her best friends. Looking back, the memories feel bittersweet for Monia, since she graduates in a few days.
“We started doing everything together,” Monia said. “[We did] Friendsgivings, every Christmas break we would go ice skating, and we would do activities like that together every year. This year, it was hard because we had our last Friendsgiving, our last Valentine’s Day, just all of these lasts. And sometimes we would catch ourselves and say, ‘There is no next year.’ But they’re the kind of friends who I don’t imagine us drifting apart. There are some friends whom you can imagine in your future, and they’re those friends for me. I found my people.”
Even though the quartet will be separated in the next year due to each of them attending different colleges, they’ve already made plans to see each other during their holiday breaks.
Next year, Monia will be attending the University of Michigan-Flint, where she’ll be majoring in biology with a concentration in pre-med and triple minoring in business, chemistry, and psychology. Eventually, she plans on transferring to the university’s Ann Arbor campus.
Monia wasn’t initially interested in triple minoring. However, at UM-Flint’s admitted students day, she attended a lecture where former students advised incoming freshmen on their college experience. One of the students who majored in biology said she decided to minor in chemistry since she was already taking extra chemistry classes for her pre-med focus. Monia found herself in a similar situation and decided to take her advice. As for psychology and business, both are essential for interacting in a social setting for a job and creating one’s own ambitions.
After college, Monia hopes to become a dermatologist. Following training, she’s looking forward to hopefully owning her own private practice. Minoring in chemistry, psychology, and business is a significant decision that she hopes will assist in her future career.
Although Monia is excited for her upcoming college experience, she feels as if life is moving just a little too fast for comfort.
“I feel like 70 million different changes are happening in my life,” Monia said. “I want to go to this college, but I’m also going to be working on transferring, and I’m going to have to say goodbye to all my friends in a couple of months, and my parents want to move to Florida. All these changes are coming all at once, and it’s just a lot to deal with.”
Since October, Monia’s had to deal with the onslaught of all that comes with being a senior in high school: applying to colleges, figuring out housing, deciding which school to attend, and planning out her future. Each and every action of mapping out her time ahead has cultivated a sense of dread inside Monia, for life right now is perfect as it is, and there’s no guarantee that everything will feel just as sweet in the future.
“If I could stop the clock, I would do so many things differently,” Monia said. “But I can’t, so the best I can do is just keep pushing. I’m sure that in the end, I’ll end up where I’m supposed to be, but the process of getting there is probably the hardest of all.”
Even though Monia has struggled with moving on, her mom has been there for her every step of the way.
Monia’s family came to live in the United States from Sudan when Monia was three years old. Monia’s father already lived in the States, but her mom had to leave her family and her aspirations behind for her children when moving to the country. She had wanted to become a pharmacist assistant and work in the medical field in Sudan, but she left at 24 years old, never being able to finish college. Now, with four children, realizing this dream seems difficult. Even so, Monia hopes that one day, her mom will start pursuing her passion once again.
Even though Monia’s mom left part of herself in Sudan, she dedicated herself to her children, always making sure that they were well cared for and loved. As Monia has grown, her mom has helped her acclimate to the new environment she’ll be facing in college by teaching her how to cook for herself and maintain her health when she’s alone.
Monia finds it hard to face the horrifying truth that she’s no longer a kid, and the fact that her mom has accepted that she is leaving before she has accepted it herself is saddening for Monia.
“It doesn’t feel real that [my mom] won’t be two steps away,” Monia said. “Like, what do you mean that I can’t just go downstairs and talk to her about my problems anymore? And to make it all worse, she’s accepted that I’m leaving, and I haven’t accepted it. You don’t realize it until you’re quite literally face to face with [the fact] that you’re not a kid anymore. While I’m definitely excited about independence, the fact that if I make a mistake, no one’s going to be there to catch me is really hard to fathom. When I learned to ride a bike, my parents were always there if I fell or made a mistake. But it’s not like that anymore.”
Part of adapting to a new environment is hardship, and Monia has begun to accept this fact by viewing it through a positive lens. At the beginning of this year, she and her friends made Bingo Boards of goals they have for 2025. Alongside spaces including skydiving, reading at least 25 books in the year, and going to a concert, there’s also a box that reads “Go to college,” which Monia will check off in a couple of short months.
Another box reads “Get a new hobby.” Although Monia already enjoys activities such as reading and crocheting, she’s found that having a multitude of hobbies can help her branch out and connect to new friends. When she and Audrey first met, they connected through both reading and crochet, which assisted Monia in getting along with Audrey’s friends when she was introduced to them.
“One of the boxes I wrote—because hobbies helped me find friends—was to get a new hobby for 2025, and I already [crossed] that off,” Monia said. “I was never a LEGO kid, but then I asked myself, ‘Why not start playing with LEGOs and building things?’ So, that’s another new hobby of mine.”
While at university, Monia hopes to continue checking off these boxes as a reminder to live in the present moment and enjoy herself. University comes with numerous challenges—adapting to living alone, being inundated with coursework, and navigating a new city. She can sometimes get caught up in the mess, so having this Bingo Board serves as a source of motivation.
Despite being exhilarated by her forthcoming independence, Monia knows she’ll miss her adolescence. Everything seems easier when young and dependent on family, but the years can pass by far too quickly, until suddenly, the end of senior year is here. As a final goodbye to FHC and her youth, Monia left some advice for anyone feeling a little lost in high school.
“Spend your time wisely,” Monia said. “Spend time with your friends, but also focus on school. Make time to find out what you want to do, because the end of senior year creeps up on you faster than you think. I remember at the beginning of the year thinking it was so far away, and now it’s here. It feels really weird. Make time to figure out what you want to do with your future. So that way, when [the end of senior year] comes, you feel prepared. Because if you feel prepared, then that takes away from the scariness of having to be away from your family, and even if you’re going to college somewhere close, then knowing yourself is going to help you so much in the long run. If you have an idea of who you are and what you believe in, then that’ll make your future decisions so much easier, and you won’t be influenced by other people’s opinions. Have fun, be smart, and enjoy yourself before you’re an adult, when you won’t have people who are going to fix your mistakes for you. Before you become independent, enjoy your dependency.”
