This weekend, our high school seniors will put a square hat on their heads and walk across a stage to accept their graduation diploma.

For some, reaching this goal has been pretty easy. For others, the finish line was as tough as running a marathon.

      The community will welcome these graduates as young men and women, not teenagers any more, and that safety net called “high school” suddenly vanishes.

       The responsibilities of paying their own way and deciding to go to college or get a job will smash into their lives like a piano dropped out of a second-story window.

      But all is not doom and gloom, Class of 2016. There’s a huge world of opportunity out there, and it’s yours for the taking.

      If you have the guts.

      But, first, let’s talk about all the perks of being a fresh-out-of-school young adult.

      You can go to the restroom without asking for a pass from a teacher.

      You can be late for appointments without providing a written excuse from your parents. 

      There’s no more assigned reading for a grade. No more trying to decipher the complicated works of William Faulkner or suffering through sonnet after sonnet, courtesy of William Shakespeare.

       You can choose what you want to read – TMZ online, Reddit or the latest graphic novel. Better yet, if you want to play games on your iPhone until 4 a.m., nobody’s going to nag you about getting up to catch the bus.

      Yep, the adult world is pretty laid back.

      Until you have to pay the mortgage.

      Or fix the leak in your roof.

      Or figure out how to fill out your income tax form all on your own.

      The adult world, you suddenly realize, isn’t all strawberry shortcake with whipped cream on top.

      There are responsibilities, some of which seem overwhelming.

      But for each one of the responsibilities you inherit as an adult, there’s so much knowledge you’ll pick up along the way.

      Paying a mortgage makes you realize that all those math and algebra classes you took in high school weren’t always a waste of time.

      Fixing the leak in your roof gives you the confidence to lay a new floor in the living room, build a piece of furniture or replace a leaking toilet.

      As far as filling in your income taxes, the main lesson you’ll come away with is the government gets a whole lot of money, especially your money, and that in itself will motivate you to get down to the courthouse and register to vote.

      And as a voter, you’ll see the American judicial system in action. You might get a jury summons and you’ll gripe and complain just like every other adult.

But when you’re in the courtroom waiting for your name to be called as a prospective juror, you’ll see why having a jury of one’s peers is so important.

You could be one of 12 people deciding whether or not someone walks out of the courtroom that morning or is handcuffed and led away to the county jail.

      You’ll see police officers in a role other than someone to hassle you when you’re out past your curfew. You’ll understand why wearing jeans and a T-shirt is unacceptable when interacting with judges, lawyers and other jurors.

      Regular people are there seeking a fair and just trial, and they deserve respect. If you don’t weasel out of jury duty, you’ll come away with a deeper understanding of civic duty, much deeper than you learned in that high school government class.

More than anything else, you’ll learn that at least one person had their day in court, all because 12 people decided to accept the responsibility of being an adult.

So welcome to the adult world, Class of 2016.

Go get ‘em.

This column was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.