The end of the year is almost upon us. It’s the time of year where we have to say a sad goodbye to our seniors once again. And for the seniors, an era of their life is about to come to a close. Here at The Herd we decided to talk to some seniors and asked them to reflect on the past four years they’ve spent here. Here’s what they said:

Jake Towne

How does it feel knowing you are looking at your last weeks of senior year?

Yeah, I’m crying a little bit. I don’t know. It’s my very last week, I have two days left. I don’t know. It’s not good. I don’t like it. I don’t like change, so I’m not looking forward to it – being done with high school since I’ve been doing it for four years.

Has senior year seemed fundamentally different than your other three years at KHS?

Fundamentally no, because like I said, it’s been consistent with like the four years and losing that consistency is one of the biggest reasons I’m not looking forward to graduating, really.  I mean I feel like it’s only different in the way that I act differently now than I did when I was a freshman.

Looking back, what were some of the best moments of your high school career?

I don’t know, this, being in the school newspaper and actually having something. I don’t know, I guess prom was fun last year. I didn’t go this year. I didn’t really enjoy many of the like, big things that they did for the school. I had fun at Mr. KHS, but that was also this year.

And the worst moments?

Probably going to homecoming as a freshman because I don’t know, I figured it’d be different and I didn’t plan it out very well so I went alone and I didn’t have any friends there.

And the weirdest moments?

I don’t know. Weird moments… [I haven’t done anything weird] I don’t know, I can’t think of any weird moments. I don’t know if I’d define any moments as weird. The only weird thing I can think of was you know, the school’s layout changing and trying to get used to that, but I don’t know if I’d classify that as weird. It’s weird to think about if I’m in a certain room, like if I’m in the Economos, to try to figure out where everything was before the school got moved around.

What’s something you wish you had known earlier in your high school career?

That I wasn’t funny.

And any other advice you’d like to leave for underclassmen?

You’re probably going to look back on yourself as you are now and be very dissatisfied with who you were, but that’s okay because you might have improved later on.

Nels Faul

How does it feel knowing you are looking at your last weeks of senior year?

It’s like I don’t even know how to describe it because part of me is very happy to be moving on with my life and kind of taking those steps into adulthood, but also I’m really going to miss the memories that I made here, the people that I made those memories with, my teachers, and other staff members who I’ve really gotten to know well over these past four years. And it also feels weird because unfortunately I couldn’t do a senior project, but it is kind of like woah, this [graduation] is actually happening because there’s no other seniors here.  It’s like I’m never going to see those people again. It’s just weird. It’s weird, wonderful but also a little sad.

Has senior year seemed fundamentally different than your other three years at KHS?

Well, so, I got two concussions my senior year, so definitely yes in that regard because I’ve never had that sort of obstacle before.  But from what I could tell with my classmates, who were like going about their senior years concussion-less, it [senior year] seemed to be little harder – and there was the added layer of the college application process and stuff, but yeah, I don’t know. I feel like I can’t really answer that because I had such a… yeah.

Looking back, what were some of the best moments of your high school career?

Oh, wow. I guess one of them was freshman year when the band went to New York City, and we went to that festival there. Another is when I went to Europe with one of those groups that Mr. Dupuis organizes, and that that was a lot of fun. Um, oh boy. I mean, there are snippets of just regular day that were like really funny to me or like just really stood out, like, especially like when we’d get off track in like English class and just like the humor and like variety that came from that. And really like through the theater, I’ve made a lot of good memories there.

And the worst?
Probably like one of the worst, so my junior year, the start of second semester is when they started the policy of if you’re late you get a detention and I remember that day was like, the roads were so bad, like my car was covered in ice and I had to pick up like two different groups of people in two different locations so I was, I had a lot to do that morning, but then I got there and then like I was late and I got like a detention for it and I was like “are you kidding me?” Not only is this my first unexcused absence in the morning, or tardy, unexcused tardy, but also like on a day where we already had like, it was a 2-hour delay and like the roads were bad. That was, I just remember super frustrated there. And I mean like, I guess also I wouldn’t say worst memories, but when like seniors would leave each year and like we’d be losing people that we like really got to know was saddening. I don’t really have a lot of worst memories here.

And weirdest?

Oh god, the weirdest? Some of the weirdest I guess is when I’d go into the bathroom and like just this group of sophomores are like huddling like a group of penguins and then like they see me and they disperse. It’s like okay, I know what you’re doing. And then, oh boy, I can’t really think of any.

What’s something you wish you had known earlier in your high school career?  

You should always like be trying to like be your best but I think I really should have know like you have to learn to relax, you have to learn to like not be so like into your school work, sorta, relationship with studies and socialness, socialisation, but I feel like I should have been better balanced.

And any other advice you’d like to leave for underclassmen?

Don’t get a concussion your senior year, it’s really bad for you. I guess I’d also say when, I guess for picking a college specifically, do what like makes sense for you, in like all kinds of aspects. That definitely like when I started thinking of how is this really gonna help me and I started to like be more selfish when answering this question that like helped. Also, don’t be afraid to like, speak your truth even though it might not be like, I guess the most popular amongst the group. But, when you’re speaking your truth make it like rooted in logic and fact rather than like spew out a bunch of garbage that like doesn’t really mean anything. And don’t be afraid to go against the gradient, I guess is what I’m trying to say.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Just try to do what you love. Like always find a way to do what you love, because that definitely helped me.