Graduation is an important milestone for all of our seniors, and there are mixed emotions about leaving the high school life behind. I spoke to four seniors to get an idea of how high school has impacted their lives: Joseph Person (JP), Scyler Snowden (SS), Spencer Holly (SH), and Michael Casey (MC).

How do you feel about leaving high school?

JP: I feel like the calm right before you sneeze. Everything is so uncomfortable at the moment but you understand that once you’re finished, everything will be better.

SS: I am excited for the new things I’m going to experience.  I’m ready to close this chapter of my life and move on.

SH: I feel ecstatic. I am ready to expand my horizons and move on to the next part of my life.

MC: I am both scared and excited. I’m scared because I don’t wanna leave all my friends behind, but I’m excited because, in the same aspect, I want to leave them behind. I just want to move on with my life.

Do you feel prepared?

JP: I do. I think high school has prepared me to the fullest extent that it could.

SS: Probably not, no. I don’t think I feel prepared at all, especially, education-wise. But I don’t know. I guess I’ll see when I get there.

SH: I do not feel prepared at all, but I feel like I’m a pretty quick learner and I’ll be able to get where I need to be so that I can be financially secure during college.

MC: Yes, I think I feel prepared. I think I’ve matured and it’s gonna help me out with what I do after high school.

What did you learn at Wakefield?

JP: High school taught me how to interact with people.

SS: I learned how to adjust my expectations and how to cope with change. Learning to be comfortable where I’m uncomfortable was the biggest thing in high school for me.

SH: I learned when to keep my mouth shut and when to ask questions.

MC: I learned to have a lot more responsibility, a lot more work. To have more responsibility transformed me into an adult.

What did you expect from high school your freshman year? How was your experience different?

JP: I expected it to be a disaster. How it turned out: it was a beautiful disaster.

SS: I definitely thought it was gonna be like the movies, but it was not. I thought it was gonna be fun, well it was fun, but I thought teachers were gonna be chill because in the movies they really don’t do any work. Then, I realized “Oh shoot, I have to do work.”

SH: I really expected to just continue going on from eighth grade and just make a lot of friends and be really happy, energetic and excited for class. I quickly realized that’s not at all what high school is and I learned that I need to keep my mouth shut and only talk to people that are friends of friends because the world is scary and most people don’t wanna be your friend.

MC: I was mostly very scared. I thought it was gonna be hard, but it wasn’t as hard as I expected.

What will you miss about high school?

JP: Mostly the people, that’s what I’m gonna miss the most.

SS: I’ll miss the people definitely; all my friends are going in different directions now.

SH: I’m going to miss all the people that I wasn’t really friends with but still talked to in class, because I feel like in college it’s gonna be a lot different. When you have really big classes you’re not gonna get to just have your school friends, it’s just gonna be a bunch of random people you don’t know.

MC: I’m gonna miss the teachers I’ve become close to.

While these seniors have different reactions to graduating, there are common themes, such as excitement and doubt. Each student also shared that their expectations were very different from their actual experience. However, what was most interesting was how everyone gave completely different answers about what they learned. The students all shared a unique life skill, which shows the true value of high school. In the midst of arguments surrounding the educational value of classes, it’s apparent that school provides students with an environment that promotes personal growth.