Shengliver’s Note: 6 pm June 9 is a milestone on the education journey of Chinese teens. It marks the end of high school and the start of college.

Every year June sees big exams come and go. A few days ago, this year’s university entrance exam took place in our school.

Two days before the exam, we Grade 1 and Grade 2 classes prepped the classrooms and the hallway. We wiped the windows, the blackboard and the desks. Simultaneously we mopped the floor. We even got on our hands and knees to scrub the floor where chewing gum had stuck. It was exhausting. The desks were aligned in perfect rows and columns. Finally, the headmaster, followed by his subordinates, came and inspected the room, spotlessly clean. He nodded in approval. That meant that the job was done and we could go. The stage was set for the examinees.

Before leaving for home, I stood in the front of the room imagining how the candidates would be feeling during the following three days. Confident? Nervous? Anxious or something else? I had no clue. One thing I was sure of was that they would put on their best show in their last high school battle.

It is two days since the exam ended. With the graduates gone, the campus has quietened down, and school has come back on track for Grade 1 and Grade 2.

On the way back to school on the evening of June 9, I came across the proud warriors heading home from the battlefield, triumphant and relieved. It was the end of their high school war. It was also the beginning of their independence. Leaving behind high school, they could not wait to embrace their future.

The moment I realised that I will be just like them two years from now, I turned my eyes away from them and walked ahead toward the campus.