Seniors have just over six weeks remaining in their high school lives, with graduation on June 4 and seniors’ final day of school on May 31. With this in mind, it is a good time to reflect and appreciate the journey of students’ time at Franklin. The class of 2024 began high school in 2020, the year most people will remember as being quarantined and increasingly isolated. For our senior class, lockdown began at the end of eighth grade, and freshman year at Franklin was entirely online. Sophomore year was the first year back post-pandemic and brought along heightened anticipation and excitement for a normal year. The class’ junior and senior years have been a return to some regularity and normalcy, although our school district experienced a nearly month-long strike in November and held a heavy atmosphere with the gun violence and student deaths that continue to impact our community. With all of this in mind, we are honoring a class that has experienced a lot of love, joy, and hardship in hopes of continuing to end this academic year strong.
The class of 2024 is especially energetic and motivated both academically and socially, with student interests ranging from snowboarding to opera to physics. There are countless memories of classes, friendships, events, trips, and activities that will be missed and treasured by this group of students. One senior, Violet McEntire, shared what she will personally miss most about her time at Franklin and as a high school student. “It’s really the people that will make me miss Franklin the most, having all of my friends together for these last four years is something I’ve taken for granted,” McEntire stated. She commented that there are likely some students and staff she won’t see again after graduation, something she anticipates will be a difficult adjustment. McEntire is committed to the University of Oregon Clark Honors College in the fall and aims to major in marine biology.
“I loved watching the musicals and Arts Alive dance shows every year; Franklin student work is great,” McEntire added. Sports and performing arts programs are especially prominent in seniors’ portfolios and future goals. Fall football games and lunches on the turf in the spring, as well as the club fairs in the fall and spring, are beloved activities that show appreciation for our campus alongside student talent and creativity.
Most seniors report that the times with their friends will be what they miss most about their life in high school. “Having a sense of routine, living at home, and seeing my friends every single day [are] what I’ll miss most,” one senior said. “My junior and underclassmen friends and also my siblings are what I’m going to miss the most about Franklin,” another senior reported.
The Franklin community will also feel the absence of class of 2024. Social studies teacher Kimberly Livesay says that aside from all of the snarky jokes, she will miss the seniors’ “camaraderie and friendship with each other,” which shows up prominently throughout this class. “I think that with this class there is such a sense of looking out for the broader community and advocating for others. There are many activists and artists and amazing people who are just going to change the world,” emphasized Livesay. “I’m really going to miss that energy.”
When asked about the specific aspects that the senior class brings to the community, Livesay highlighted the distinct maturity and wisdom of this specific grade, but also of our larger generation, which she speculates may have originated through the struggles of COVID-19 and the isolation, agitation, and trials that came along with it. “This year’s group of seniors has had at home learning, hybrid, somewhat regular in-person school, and then the strike. Seniors have never had an uninterrupted school year,” Livesay elaborated, explaining how these factors have shaped senior’s attitudes and appreciation for school and social connection as well as the forced maturing from the collective struggles of the pandemic.
As seniors wrap up their final year of high school, Livesay advises that searching for and maintaining balance is a lifelong goal that she sees areas for growth in for this specific group of students. “The ratio of sleep to work to phone time is super unbalanced,” Livesay noted, saying that many of her senior students this year struggled significantly to manage their time and complete homework. She observed that often schoolwork would fall secondary to other aspects of students’ lives like jobs, social time, and free time. “I see many seniors come into class already burnt out, already tired from work or sports, etc,” she noted. “I think it leads into why mental health issues are so prominent in this group of kids– you are overworked, stressed, overstimulated, and sleep deprived. Finding the balance is [going to] be a lifelong process of intuiting what your body and mind really need moment to moment.”
This search for balance is not unique to this specific senior class and is common for anyone experiencing a big transition after high school. Through adolescence and into adulthood, these strengths and areas for growth will change and shift, but this class is entirely capable of rising to the challenges that face our generation. High school has been a period of tremendous change, maturation, disappointment, and hope, and the class of 2024 has faced every obstacle in their path head-on. While anticipating the fantastic accomplishments and places that await students in their next stages of life, I highly recommend seniors take their last six weeks as high schoolers with gratitude and an eagerness to make connections. Talk to people you never have before, write your favorite teachers cards, be present in your classes, and enjoy each other while you can!
