Starting Senior Year
Starting Senior Year is bittersweet, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that. “Bittersweet” is by far the most common term I’ve heard my peers use to describe how they feel about this year. That’s one feeling sure, but there’s about a million other ones practically every senior feels right now. The excitement of freedom: all of the senior privileges have been passed onto us. The parking lot, the senior lounge, the town hall senior section; we’re using the same spaces that we’ve seen the class before us use. There’s the overbearing stress of college applications. Narrowing down lists, submitting applications, applying for scholarships, all while waiting and hoping we get our best outcomes.
It’s a strange thing to come to terms with, that while we’re preparing to leave there are dozens of new students just beginning their journey here, and none of them will have the same experience we did. (Possibly include: This cover picture, while seemingly normal, is actually one of the first pictures of campus I took in the 8th grade.). There might still be a swan on campus, but the swan that chased me and several other students in our early days of 8th grade is gone, and a new significantly less mean swan has taken up its place in the lake. Teachers and Faculty have come and gone, and with them some of their sponsored activities. Dr. Neely’s fencing and Mr. Pollard’s 9th grade trip may not ever be experienced by new students again.
Obviously, Covid-19 has had a huge impact on how the past two years have played out and will likely continue to be the defining factor of many current student’s Springs experience. An entire year’s worth of new students had no first lake day, no dances, no field trips, all taken away due to something completely out of our control. I miss seeing Mr. Fleming in his office or hearing him explain the history of the school. I miss being able to hang out in large groups without a care in the world. I miss those dances, field trips, and everything else we lost or had changed due to the pandemic.
Things change, that’s just a part of life. The seniors are about to go through one of the bigger changes, the move up to college. Because of this, I’ve decided to think about the way things are changing in a positive way. We won’t be there next year to see another year of change because we’ll be pursuing our own. I have no doubt that when I come back as an alumn things will still be changing: there might be different faculty, we’ll have a new dining hall, and there might be fewer trees. There’s no stopping any kind of physical change, but as many alumni and faculty have said before me, the spirit of Springs remains the same. I can’t dwell on the negatives, on missing something I won’t get back, but instead, I can look towards the positive and know even when my class is gone every class after us will keep the school alive. There will be new students, clubs, new student government cabinets, new choir officers, but they will all be pursuing their own experience at Springs. I know that the spirit of Springs doesn’t rely on one individual, one building, or one landmark. I know that the best parts of springs will stay exactly how I leave them at the end of the year, and they’ll be there for others to enjoy just as much.