A New Year Yields New Roles: Four Seniors Share Their Hopes for their Last Year
The graduating class of 2023 share about their high school experience as they begin their last year at La Salle.
September 7, 2022
When a new school year begins, adjustment is necessary. Each grade is presented with a unique set of challenges and privileges, different from those of the year before.
For seniors, the transition can feel especially significant; seniors are automatically transformed into the leaders of the school, inherently adapting to a new set of expectations and responsibilities.
“I want to be a good leader for the freshmen,” Student Body President Raphael De Leon said. “We should be able to model what it’s like to be in a big community and to help each other up,”
On a similar note, senior Cade Jansen hopes to impact the community by modeling his peppy, energetic school spirit.
“I want to bring a lot of energy to athletic events,” Jansen said. “I want to show the underclassmen and leave them to become the leaders.”
On top of wanting to embody excellent leadership, many seniors begin planning and managing the endeavors of their lives after high school.
“It’s a little stressful,” De Leon said. “I mean, we still have to consider college and stuff.”
Senior Ciomara Marrero feels similarly, hoping to “find what I want to do later after high school,” before the school year ends.
Despite the stress, several students express gratitude for the past three years, making the adjustments of senior year much more palatable.
After pondering for a word to describe his past three years at La Salle, De Leon decided on “rewarding.”
Comparably, Senior Mia Middendorff chose “memorable.” She plans on making her final year the same way — hoping to continue “making connections within my class and getting everyone together.”
Despite having four years at La Salle, these four students unanimously agreed that time flies by — especially having portions of their freshman and sophomore years online.
“I thought time went by slowly in the moment, but now that I’m a senior, it’s gone quickly,” Jansen said. Despite this, he’s “excited for everything to be my last.”
“I’m going to go double everything [with] double energy in everything I did last year,” Jansen said.
