One last assignment for the Class of 2025…
The seniors had their last official day of school on Thursday, May 8th. After a long night of field day games, basketball, poker, painting, food, cling wrap, and about 500 balloons, the sleepy Class of 2025 set up camp (literally), had a meeting, then ran for the parking lot as they were dismissed for the last time. The day prior, however, was their very last official full day of school. Wrapping up final projects, finishing final exams, submitting final assignments… The seniors in journalism filmed one last goodbye video and received one last writing assignment to carry them into life after high school.
Before saying their goodbyes, they answered a few questions in order to leave behind some advice for incoming freshmen and future Journalism students. They also had a moment to look back at the last year (or four) and think about their favorite memories, both inside and outside of the classroom. Here’s what they had to say…
Chuck Hathaway
Advice for incoming freshmen: Don’t be dumb, and try in school.
Advice for Journalism students: Be timely with your articles, and don’t try to over-write or over-explain.
Kenzie Knowles
Advice for incoming freshmen: Don’t change to fit in. You got this, it’ll all be fine.
Advice for Journalism students: Journalism is meant to be fun so make it fun by getting your work done. Find things to write about that interest you so that you can enjoy the writing and the working part of journalism. This class is not meant to be easy but it can be once you find your groove.
Favorite Journalism memory: My favorite memory from journalism was the very first video we filmed when everyone was featured like a character from Full House. This video brought everyone together with lots of laughs. I will miss each and every single person in this class because we are such a tight and close knit group. Thank you for everything, Journalism.
Rachel Paddock
Lesson learned, advice for others: The most important, life-altering thing that I’ve learned over the past four years is this: it’s important to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. If you walk through life waiting for things to be easy, you’ll never accomplish anything. Real moments of growth, of joy, and of true living come after a period of uncomfortableness. Every close friend I have is a result of an awkward introduction. Every passion comes from a weird first try. Every talent I have started in failure. By learning how to get comfortable with being uncomfortable and confront the fear of feeling awkward, we can experience life to the fullest. Knowing this, I no longer let worry stop me from trying new things, meeting new people, or going new places. Learning this is a process and one we can all start right now.
Advice for Journalism students: People write their best work when they write from a place that is true to themselves. Don’t try and write what your classmates or what your teacher would write, but write what YOU have to say. Write about topics you care about. When assigned a topic, write from your perspective. If all writing was supposed to be the same, the world would not be trying to build up new journalists. The world needs different perspectives, different thoughts, and different people to thrive- be a unique voice!
Gracie Bontemps
Lesson learned, advice for others: A lesson I’ve learned in high school is to make the most out of your high school experience. Be involved in school activities, join a club or a sport, and don’t stress too much over small things that won’t matter a month or a year later. The time will start to fly by, and you don’t want to regret missing out on something. One thing I learned late in my Senior year as well is that if you are going out of state for college… don’t just apply for local scholarships; look into as many as you possibly can because if you think your college is going to cost a certain amount of money… it will always end up being so much more.
Favorite Journalism memory: I liked making any videos for social media because even though they were corny, we still had fun.
Sutton Brown
Lesson learned, advice for others: I have learned a lot of lessons in high school but the biggest ones are being respectful to people, and… no one cares (aka no one stays that judgmental). Being respectful to others is probably the biggest thing I hold myself accountable to. Hold the door for others, yes sir and yes ma’am, shake hands, and help others whenever possible. Although I didn’t learn these things in high school, I worked on them and got better at them in high school. Also, no one cares; literally no one cares what you are doing and will probably forget about it in 15 minutes. (So stop worrying about what others think and have fun).
Advice for Journalism students: Stick to what you are good at; I found what I was good at writing, and I stuck with it. Also… make sure you turn in your articles on time or else your grade will probably be pretty bad.
Kinley Keehnen
Lessons learned, advice for others: The most important lesson I learned in high school is to stay true to yourself. I know it sounds cringe and everything, but it’s so simply the survival of life. Over the years, I was a friend floater and it felt like I didn’t belong in most friend groups. However, junior year changed for me, and I started to notice traits in myself. It was like I was finally understanding myself. From there, I kind of went with the flow, and once somebody didn’t put any effort into our friendship/relationship… goodbye.
Advice for Journalism students: My advice for future journalism students is to always know what topic you’re going to talk about next.
Libby Medlin
Favorite high school memory: My favorite memory from my four years of high school was probably a track practice held last year after our sectionals meet. Our seasons were over, and our coach had sent us off the track on our last long run. So in response to the blazing weather, our girls team decided to impulsively jump into Heritage Lake. Our clothes were soaked and our shoes were slipping, but we made it back to school on time, despite our detour. To which our coach never even noticed, or if he did, questioned our clothes and hair dripping wet with water.
Ethan Gordon
Lessons learned, advice for others: Cut the bull; don’t be another class that’s known for its jokes and downfalls. For the athletes– create an environment of strong and focused warriors who are so focused on winning so much they are willing to sacrifice the person for the team. For academics– focus on garnering knowledge that you can use in your everyday adult life; don’t focus on grades per say. Focus on practicality & critical thinking. Advice for everyday life: get a job, make money, don’t become another cog of capitalism working at a retail store for the rest of your life, get an education or a specialized career. Don’t rely on your parents too much; they can only do so much for you. You have to carry your own weight.
Lucas Holly
Advice for incoming freshmen: Advice I would give underclassmen going into high school is firstly to not take everything so seriously, especially as an underclassmen. Between grades, sports and balancing everything in between, all you can do is the best you can do and work hard each day. Things aren’t going to be perfect. By not worrying so much about the future or things you can’t control, it helps you stay in the now and create good long lasting memories.
Advice for Journalism students: My biggest piece of advice is to be as creative and open minded as possible because you never know what someone else may find interesting and spark their interest in something new that you wrote about. I would also say that not procrastinating writing articles is essential because I had many times I would have to rush to finish an article or I finished it late.