Is this the end, or a brand new beginning? After successfully completing 13 years of school, the seniors at Atholton High School are ready to graduate and get onto the next chapter in their lives. This year’s graduating class has faced great challenges and expressed great resilience and determination through it all.
Throughout these years, the graduating class of 2025 has explored many different situations which allowed them to have new perspectives on things and experience personal growth. The experiences that the class of 2025 have gone through this year, reflect their class to be prepared to adapt to the next chapter in their lives.
“I feel very excited but also sad because I remember looking back on the first day of high school. They said time flies in high school and you don’t believe it at first, but now that you’re a senior and graduation is so soon, you really do realise that time does fly and you should cherish those memories,” said Angel Zhou, a senior at Atholton High School.
Angel Zhou is also the president of Atholton’s executive board and will be speaking at this year’s graduation day. She is also working on her speech with her fellow classmate, Lily Shen, a senior at Atholton High School as well.
“Our speech very much reflects on high school and it’s like an analogy to a mural and how people in your life all help you build this mural, they’re a part of it and even if you’re not directly connected to them.”
With graduation day coming up on May 29, Angel hopes to accomplish one thing and that’s for everyone to remember each other no matter what.
“It’s only four years so I think it’s really important to think about the people you’ve interacted with even if it was a small interaction, like how they’ve built your life into what it is now.”
Atholton’s math teacher, Mrs. DeFilippo is one of the graduation coordinators this year. Her job is to help organize the list of graduates, get them their cap and gowns, organize the student speakers and performers, work with the central office to organize the program and help set up and execute graduation overall.
“We start planning in the fall with cap gowns and general planning but this year was a little delayed and we didn’t start until winter.”
The reason why they started late was because they didn’t have a graduation coordinator. She had volunteered to be one of the graduation coordinators for this year.
The graduation day process takes a lot of time and effort as Mrs. DeFilippo describes: “We start with cap and gowns, get a list of seniors and then we message the students about ordering their cap and gowns and all that good stuff.”
However, upon the continuation of this process, it doesn’t actually start until March. “After March, there’s still three months of planning and executing for graduation.” As this process is complex in a way, it benefits Mrs. DeFilippo in her own way.
“It keeps me busy which is good, but the tasks itself take time. I have enjoyed working with the seniors and the counselors…etc, it’s opened my horizons of who I work with and that is always a good thing, and it also keeps me busy which is either good or bad.” Clearly, this job has impacted her in a positive way.
Mrs. Rhee, another teacher at Atholton, has won “Teacher of the Year” for this school year. She had the opportunity to speak at graduation day this year.
“I was very surprised. I didn’t think that I could win it because I teach elective classes, so I was very honored and nervous at the same time.”
Becoming Teacher of the Year has been a roller coaster of emotions for Mrs. Rhee. It has given Mrs. Rhee the opportunity to feel heard and noticed for her accomplishments in the school year. Upon graduation making its way, Mrs. Rhee definitely shared her emotions about it in a more personal manner.
“For most of these kids, I’ve seen them for four years and this was right after the pandemic, so I’ve gotten very attached to them, so I’m sad to be losing them but I’m so happy for them that they great places to go to they’re going to do great things.”
Since Mrs. Rhee was nominated Teacher of the Year, she was given the responsibility to give a speech at the ceremony. Considering this is her first time being involved with graduation day, Mrs. Rhee has done an excellent job at getting ready for graduation day and creating her speech.
She explained her complex process upon writing and preparing for her speech. She claimed to have spent “six hours writing for the speech.” She’s also been practicing her speech out loud.
“I have been practicing in front of my family, I’ve also recorded myself.” Mrs. Rhee does this process as a way to help her become more confident in speaking publicly as she “gets very nervous, especially in front of a large crowd.”
As Atholton’s graduation ceremony approaches, Mrs. Rhee hopes to accomplish one thing, that students can be inspired by what she says in her speech. “I want them to make things personal and think about how they can maximize their potential.”
She essentially suggests that students think outside the box and seek ways to reach their goals and true potential.
Graduation day is a big milestone that is filled with heavy emotions. From spending years with the same people and going to the same place everyday to everyone saying their goodbyes and moving onto the next chapter in their lives. Graduation is truly a day that one never forgets.
So, although this may not be the end, it might just be a new beginning, filled with great experiences and opportunities. As this moment comes to an end, Class of 2025, carry your strong spirit along this new upcoming chapter and share your success and memories with the world.
Congrats Raiders, you did it!