As my time in high school draws to a close, I feel the collective sentiment of relief, nostalgia, and anxiety that my peers emanate. I think I speak for all of us when I say graduation is the ultimate invoker of mixed feelings. None of us will miss the cramped hallways, or school lunches, or those patios we were never allowed to set foot into. But we will miss the connections we made…scratch that, the Wi-Fi sucked too. But seriously, I think what’s worth missing is the connections we made with each other and with the teachers who dedicated so much of themselves to make sure we knew that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. 

A school is nothing without the staff that brings the lessons to life.  Teachers literally make a school; they impact the lives of so many individuals solely because they care.  And I’m happy to say I think we as students are very lucky to have the school we have. I’m sure our teachers will be proud of the generations they got to influence, as I’m sure we as a generation will do our best to live up to what they taught us.

We are not an ordinary school grade; we are not getting an ordinary graduation or an ordinary career after high school. This is how it ends: not with a bang, but with a notification sound. The trail we have been blazing along with our teachers is an enormous precedent that will outlive all of us in the memory of those who will come after us.

Graduation is the ultimate invoker of mixed feelings. We as students are excited, sad, nostalgic, bitter, hopeful, and afraid. But after all is added up, it comes out to about a net plus. And according to one very smart Econ teacher, that’s what ultimately matters. So when I see all my peers leave these halls for the last time, I’m confident that they are taking the best of this experience with them.