It’s here: the end of the beginning and the end of the end.
“It was kind of a mess, but it was freeing and magical,” senior Daniela Fernández summarizes her high school career. As the school year comes to a close, freshmen say their goodbyes to their favorite seniors, and we can see the overlap of the beautiful beginning and end of a major chapter of life. Through various interviews, we asked multiple seniors to share their story of growth from freshman to senior year.
Seniors shared the impact the freshman had on them as they reminded them of their younger days and rode through their freshman year memory lane. Let's start with the one and only President of all our hearts, President Jake Peterson. When President Peterson was asked about his experience in senior forum groups, he expressed his love for the group he is leading right now, and that’s definitely not because the person conducting this interview happens to be in his group. He also saw some connections between his experience as a member of senior forum group in 9th grade and his experience now as a leader. “My partner, Laney, and I were in the same senior forum group. It’s really interesting to see what the differences are and basically, four years apart, how our senior forum members leave and how we are leading. I know that senior forum groups are a little awkward, you know, you don’t wanna pitch in too much. We are in the same boat. It’s good to finally get that second opinion, and I can completely understand both sides of the interaction.” By the end of high school, seniors were able to reminisce over the guidance they were given and attempted to provide the same in return.
Let's hear from another like the track star himself: the athlete we all aspire to be, Mr. Kobrak is known to his peers as Kai. Kobrak’s response to the question of how was his experience as a freshmens was as follows,” When I look back at my freshman year, one of the best things I remember is the relationship and mentoring I received from upperclassmen, especially in my dorm. Having those relationships made me think more on how to interact with other people around me.” So building those relationships and emotional connections seems to be a pattern in these interviews.
Now for our last senior the Latina writer who stole all our hearts with her amazing Tusitala articles and poems: Emily Amador! Ms. Amador recalls her Freshman year as the following:”It was very transformative. I think my landing here, I realized a lot of things and it felt like I had to sacrifice my identity to receive such a good education here and, you know, the private education. And so I definitely wanted to shift that and that's why I immediately sought ways that I could use my leadership and my experience to improve the school I’m in and help my peers as well. So I think it was extremely transformative.” For some, freshman year is filled with a year of total fun and bonding. For others it’s a little bit of a struggle but one thing our seniors can say is that Freshman year for them was a pivotal moment in their lives that began everything.
Freshmen year and senior year are one of the most memorable and impactful years of highschool they shape hormone teens and forge long last friendships like it did to President Peterson and Senior year is a time of reflection to say goodbye to living the good life of not paying taxes and for many of the seniors of Stevenson it’s a time to impact the lives of freshmans that are starting the Journey they finished three years ago.
Now that freshmen must say their tearful goodbyes to some of their favorite seniors, freshmen are able to reflect on the influence seniors made with the senior forum groups and prefects. Let’s hear from a fellow tearful freshman who’s saying her goodbyes to her head Prefect Kayla Russell. Elisa Wang states,” Kayla’s such a wonderful human being, she brings joy to my life. I remember that every study hall she would have fun trivias for us to do that would enhance my knowledge and bring us super yummy cookies as rewards. I love hanging out with her during study hall, she’s so kind and humorous she always makes me laugh and never lets me down. She would always make my day and smile at me when we walked past each other. Barrow and the Stevenson community wouldn’t be the same without her. She’s so cool and fantastic. I LOVE YOU KAYLA BBG.” There we have it folks now let's hear from one of the TI boys Kyle Figueroa. Kyle says that one of the people who has greatly impacted his freshmen experience is his senior forum leader Daniella Higgins. Kyles states, “during rehearsal week, she brightened up my day with her energy and made me more confident in myself. She makes senior forums enjoyable with her laughter and made me really happy when I was stressed about homework and school. She made my freshman year a joyful experience.”
The impact the seniors have left on freshmen has been beyond amazing and has made it so hard for every freshman to let go of the Class of 2023. As a leader, mentor, and a friend, the senior class of Stevenson has greatly shaped the perfect atmosphere of our community. Goodbye, Seniors, we'll miss you!
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