WOODBURY — Graduation: It’s something that sits in the back of our minds ’til it’s finally time to put on those blue caps and gowns, walk the stage, and move on to the next chapters of our lives.
This next month and a half is gonna fly by, but it’s crazy to think how these four years of our lives are just gonna become a thing of our past – all of the friendships, the events, even the drama, it’s all gonna be something we look back on in time to come.
Along with that though we are all moving on, starting clean slates once again, most of us are gonna scatter across the states attending college and experiencing life, growing and fully becoming adults. It’s a lot to take in.
Senior Micah Tracht, this year’s salutatorian, expresses how he feels the year has gone by too quick.
“I felt like graduation came a lot faster than I thought it was going to.” said Tracht. “I have mixed feelings. Obviously I’m sad to be leaving Nonnewaug, but I’m also excited to see what the future is going to bring and what college is going to bring.”
I agree with Tracht, too. I didn’t realize the year was almost over until one of my best friends, who’s a junior, was telling me how hard she was gonna cry when she saw me graduate. Then all the ideas of graduation cards, parties, and general graduation prep started to become more prominent too.
There’s so much I’m going to miss, too. I’ll miss my friends, especially one of my closest friends, Molly Hine, a junior at Pomperaug who’s been a really good friend for almost the last four years.
She means the world to me and always deals with all of my stupid gossip and drama, all my heartbreak, but her love to me has never faltered, especially when she gave me the nickname of “Gma” – she was calling the grandma of the barn one day and then it changed to that and stuck.
So to Molly, when she reads this, I may not show it yet, but I will definitely miss you.
I also think many of us fear the future. We can’t predict what it’s going to bring, and that can be scary. It can be scary to have to leave our homes and families for a lot of our after high school plans, but if we fear the future, we can’t move forward. We’re stuck.
Senior Chase Heidorn shares how his main fear is the cost of college.
“My fear for the future,” said Heidorn, “is how much college debt I’m going to be in after the four years of college and vet school.”
Yes, it might be scary, but I am ready to leave. I am ready to move on. So let’s put on those blue caps and gowns, walk that stage, and move on to the next chapter of our lives.
This is the opinion of Ashlynn Graziano, a senior reporter for the Chief Advocate who will attend Delaware Valley University in the fall.
