Four years may not seem like much, but highschool is one of the most important experiences of our lives. Every moment is a memory, every story is a legend, and they will all be remembered for the rest of time. The 2024-2025 school year is a year that will go down in the history books.
When asked what word they thought best described this year, students responded with a wide range of answers. Stressful, challenging, and long were among the adjectives, but so were hopeful, adventurous, and progressive.
For some, the end of the school year signifies summer and the excitement that comes with it. Others though, will look back on the friendships and memories they built over the year with a bittersweet attitude as they mourn the end of this year, and welcome the beginning of the next one.
“So in Ms. Brawner’s classroom there’s this squishy bunny thing, and Miles looked at me and asked if he thought it could stick to the papers that were on the lab table,” Sophomore Hayden Hernandez said. “So I hand it to Miles and he chucks it and it hits the papers and makes a loud bang. Ms. Brawner asked what the noise was and Miles just yelled ‘An experiment!’ It made the whole class crack up.”
Teachers also look back on the year, no matter how many they’ve been through, and reflect on the good and the bad and everything in between. If we could go back and change some of the actions we made, or the events that took place, of course we would, but it’s important to appreciate the good things that happened as well.
“I would change the passing of the school vouchers, but overall this was a great year,” Ms. Bonnie Brawner said.
Through observing students through their daily lives, and teaching throughout the year, teachers accumulate their own set of stories for the year, both comical and heartwarming.
“This one time[During the ISA Sophmore New Mexico field trip] two of the interns had to get a new room at the hotel, and when they went to check in there was a man watching TV sitting on the bed,” Ms. Brawner said. “It was both horrifying and hilarious, and they laughed really hard about it, which I appreciated that they had such a good nature about it.”
In our classrooms, we build a community. It may not be a big community, but as the year goes on we grow and learn to support each other through tough times, and work through the rough patches that may arise.
“One time at the beginning of 8th period, a student was really upset about something that I felt was unjust, and when my 8th period came in they were very defensive on my behalf, “Ms. Brawner said.”I just felt really good that they stood up for me like that.”
Throughout this year, we grew as a school and a community, but even more than that, we grew as individuals. Every challenge, every stressful test and broken friendship, helped us develop who we are as people, and made us stronger for the challenges we are yet to face.
“I feel like I’ve grown a lot,” junior Miles Bass said. “I feel like I’ve definitely gotten better at a lot of things, better at school definitely, and socializing, making friends, all sorts of stuff. I feel like this has been a big turning point in my life, I have a career I want to pursue, and yeah, it’s been great.”
The ways we grow and improve no
Through lost football games and broken dreams, through exams and last minute projects, and through distressing elections, we made it. And as the year comes to a close and we look back on what has been, we’re also looking towards the next year, and the next step in our lives.
