An Open Letter to my Fellow Graduates

An Open Letter to my Fellow Graduates

Stephanie Brogna, Editor-in-Chief/ Photographer

Dear Fellow Graduate,

Congrats! You made it! Twelve long years of school has all come down to this. It is your last few days of school, and you are counting down the hours. It seems like it has all gone by so fast. Not long ago you were a scared freshman who was unsure of who you were and what you would become. But, now look at all you have accomplished, four years of hard work has brought you to this day. You once roamed the halls fearful of the upperclassmen. Now, you are those “scary seniors.”

Freshman year, you learned how to make friends, became social among your classmates, and learned how to avoid the stare down of Mr. Grimm. You went to your first football game, first homecoming, first BOTC. You joined teams and clubs, and though you might have quit along the way, you still became active in our school’s community.

Sophomore year came, and then you were no longer the newbies. You made more friends because some had transferred in or out. You learned about yourself some more, you fixed parts of your personality, you grew as a student. Sophomore you learned how strong your friendships were. You found new clubs, you played in your team’s big game. You began to learn who your true self was.

When junior year rolled around, you knew who you were. More mature, more understanding, more determined. You began taking the SATs and looking for colleges to spend your years after high school. Surely, at that time you thought that it was so far away, and honestly, it probably was. You knew your way around the school. You stood your ground, and claimed your territory. You knew this was one of the most important years of your life.

In the spring, you picked classes for the following year for the final time, and were ecstatic to know your requirements were filled, so you filled your senior year with electives. You didn’t know it at the time but it was the beginning of the end of your high school career. Prom came around and you searched high and low for the perfect dress, or the perfect date. You stressed out over pre-prom. Come May, the seniors would be gone and the school would be yours. They left and it was a strange feeling knowing you were the top of the food chain.

In September, you walked through the front doors on your last first day. Soon, you sat in the stands at your last first football game of the year. You “read” your last summer reading books and wrote your last summer reading essays. You went to your final homecoming, and attended your final football game to cheer on your senior lancers. You went to your final days of the first semester and were excited when you were exempt from finals. Soon the year would  be done, there were so many lasts that happened this year, your final club picture day, your final sports game, your final test. College acceptance letters were sent out and the stress they brought set in. The same colleges you looked at as a junior were allowing you to go to their schools.

Back then, it seemed so far away, but now it is only a few months off. Then May hit and you knew that it was almost over. College Decision Day was upon you and you had to make your ultimate choice. You begin to feel so torn over wanting to leave and missing your friends. Final count downs begin. You really begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Soon it will be the last Walk-a-thon and you finally get to use your right to “Walk-and-Run”. It will be prom before you know it, the last night to dance your heart out with the people you spent the last four years with. Then it is the last day of school. You park your car in the parking lot for the last time, and as you sign your best friend’s yearbook you think back on all the memories you shared over the years, and then remember that they are going to be miles away as opposed to a few homerooms down. The last bell rings on your last day and you drive out of the parking lot for the very last time.

This is it, the march plays and you are standing in your cap and gown. Your time is winding down, your name is called, and you walk across the stage. You move your tassel from left to right and your time as a Lancer has come to an end.

As one of you, I want to thank you all for the past four years. For bringing joy and laughter to my life. We may not have all been close friends, but in some way we have all touched the lives of one another. It may have been just a smile in the hallway, sitting next to you in class, or just help with a question on homework. Whatever it was, thank you for being my classmate, my peer, my friend, and of course my fellow graduate.

Sincerely,

A graduate of the Class of 2016