Throughout her high school career, junior Alex Fletcher has had one goal she’s sought to accomplish: be as involved as possible.
Finding her calling in the more artistic programs and paths, her participation in Digital Media, AP Art, and band have only motivated her social life and propelled her desire to branch out as she enters her senior year.
“I’ve done theater all four years,” Alex said, “and I’ve tried out for everything, been involved as much as I could. I told my therapist that junior year was awful because I had so much going on, and I was taking too many APs. So [my goal] is to make senior year easier because I want to be more involved in my extracurriculars and things that I actually care about.”
As this year’s juniors are preparing to go into their last year of high school as seniors, it’s not only the multiple different class possibilities that are becoming critical in the students’ futures, but the athletic world is shifting as well.
Junior Seder Middaugh explains that balancing the sports he plays—football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and track in the spring—with academics has been a “rinse and repeat” process for the last couple of years. Managing his time with after-school practices and homework has been crucial to his success in the area of any athletic activity; however, he argues that his most important takeaway is the connections he’s made along the way.
“Like all the other seniors have said—we’ve heard it all four years—that bonding [is important],” Seder said. “We’ve grown up with these people our whole lives, but for me in sports, I’ve played with these people my whole life, so I’ve grown really special bonds with a lot of the people on the teams. Pretty much half of my friends I’ve gotten because of sports because it plays such a huge role, and I’m seeing them every day.”
Although he knows that his responsibilities are going to expand as he is beginning his fourth and final year of sports, Seder looks forward to stepping up as a team leader.
Also anticipating their last year in a leadership position is junior Abbie Glass. Being the current class trustee, and running for secretary next year, she has already been working closely with administration to ensure that senior year is a memorable experience. Being given a job to oversee the actions of the student body has given her a similar perspective to Seder on the topic of camaraderie in the class.
“I don’t think people realize that we only have one year left,” Abbie said. “We’ve been growing up together for eighteen years, and it seems like forever, but people are now realizing that there’s only one more year until we never see half of these people again. I think that definitely brings people together and want to make it more fun because I feel like everyone’s so separated right now into their own groups.”
Seeing the changes in the previous seniors’ relationships and how they flourished in their last year has given people things to hope for. The junior class just experienced their first senior cookout—one of many events to come that have the students’ social interests in mind—which Seder was anticipating as his goal is to truly open up to more people next year.
Abbie is looking forward to witnessing the shift in comfort levels as her peers grow more confident in the school environment. The prospect of dances and assemblies has become even more appealing as the fact that they’re final begins to sink in.
“I think homecoming will be really fun with the parade and dress-up days,” Abbie said. “Everyone’s going to get super into it now that it’s their last year and they have no one to judge them. I think people are just going to stop caring about what people think and get super into school spirit, which is always super exciting and brings us together even more.”
In the end, the current juniors are now starting to reflect on what has been successful in prior years, and the student body is eager to make the final leg of the high school journey something special.
As Alex has begun to contemplate her involvement in different aspects of the school, she knows now what is truly important in the lifestyle she plans to pursue. Taking advice from previous seniors and her own mentors has given her insight on how to make the most of the opportunities she’s given as her high school career is coming to a close.
“High school is not all about school, it’s an experience,” Alex said. “People look back on high school fondly, most of the time, and they remember all of the stuff they did, but you can’t remember all the stuff you did if you just do your classwork. You just have to live a little more.”
