An End of an Era
As the class of 2025 prepares to graduate, they reflect on what has been and what’s to come
Class of 2025, this is the moment you’ve all worked for, what you’ve all dreamed of; it almost doesn’t seem real that the time has come. The day that you’ll walk across the stage on Bison Field West, the same place where your high school journey began, is quickly approaching. Graduation is more than just leaving high school: you are leaving the days of your youth behind so you can enter the world of adulthood. So many have dreamed of the day when they never have to come back to school again, but is this feeling permanent?
Some seniors still feel this way. They’re raring to leave the parking lot after graduation and see what the future holds.
“I would say that I’m excited but nervous, you know?” Claire Boelter ‘25 said. “It’s a big change, but it makes me excited for the future. But I think all change warrants a little anxiety. I think I’m most looking forward to going to college with my friend Emmerson and all the coffee shop study dates!”
However, for others, it no longer seems to be a happy moment – rather, it has become a cause for sadness and reflection. After all, everything they have ever known for the past four years has been at this school with these people, and now they’re facing the end of it.
“I am very sad about graduation,” Cianna Roder ‘25 said. “Although it’s very bittersweet, it’s also marking the end of some of the best four years of my life. It is marking the end of all the football games, student sections, every choir concert, and every night at home with my family. Even though I am starting a new beginning, which I’m excited about, I am not quite sure that I’m ready to leave these last four years of my life behind.”
Not everyone feels strongly one way or another about graduation. Many students see both the positives and negatives of this big change.
“I am excited to graduate and begin a new chapter,” Natalie Flynn ‘25 said, “but I’m also sad about not seeing my friends every day and the community and teachers I’ve grown accustomed
to.”
As most acknowledge, college means many new opportunities and experiences, but at the cost of leaving
what you know behind.
“I think I’m least looking forward to leaving home,” Boelter said. “I’m gonna miss my family and being away from them. And being far away from my best friend.”
In a flash, seniors are going from all being in one building to being states away from each other. Not only will they be going in different directions physically, but they’ll also be branching out to explore their interests.
Boelter is going to Winona State to study psychology or history with a pre-law track. Roder is going to Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Flynn is going to Concordia Saint Paul to play soccer.
The class of 2025 is a group of fun, talented, driven students who will be missed by all of the students and staff they’re leaving behind, but it’s finally their time to spread their wings and explore the world.
