“It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for since our freshman year,” says senior Megan Teasck, one of the emcees for the Class of 2022’s final Winter Carnival.

As she announces that the seniors have won, the senior bleachers erupts in joyful chants: “I believe that we have won! I believe that we have won! I believe that we have won.” 

While the seniors are tired, and many of us have lost our voices, nothing beats this feeling. 

Then we hear it. 

“We will miss you,” the rest of the student body chants in unison, filling the gym. Suddenly, our joy turns into a sober realization: The end of our high school experience is near. As our Winter Carnival concludes and we have already reached March, graduation is closer than we can  imagine.

Soon March will turn into April, and we will all be anticipating our Spring vacation. Then we will return, and the excitement of prom will have us anticipating a night of dancing and memories. After we hang up our dresses and tuxedos, we will confront our final projects and finish our coursework.

Then it’s over. 

Everyone told us how quickly high school would pass, but nobody could have anticipated the tumultuous four years the Class of 2022 has endured.  Nobody could have anticipated a pandemic that would obliterate the second semester of sophomore year and the entirety of junior year.  

When we walked into school on the first day of this year, it felt like we were still 16-year-old sophomores with new driver’s licenses, excited for the coming years. But we were the seniors, and now we’re adults with our future plans in sight.

While looking at how we all have grown since we were all-knowing freshmen, I have a lot of emotions. Full-disclosure: when the student body chanted “We will miss you,” I burst into tears, knowing that is just the beginning of my emotional meltdowns to come while saying goodbye to high school. 

When you spend every day at school for four years, you are excited for the end. The thought of another essay or one more math summative makes you want nothing more than to grab that diploma and be done with it. But there’s a part of me that can’t help but wish I were a freshman again.

My message to underclassmen: Enjoy all of it. Dress up on Spirit Days. Go to games. Scream extra loud at Winter Carnival. Embrace it.

And to my fellow seniors: I’m honored to finish this turbulent high school experience with you. I would not trade the memories we have shared for anything in the world. And I’m going to miss making more.