Dear Class of 2022,
It’s finally starting to set in; the last homework assignment, the last test, the last Friday, and eventually the last day of school. These halls that we’ve walked in for four years will soon be a distant memory. The somewhat structured life we built for these long 18 years will soon crumble into endless freedom and decision-making. That surreal moment when we walk across the stage in our gaps and gowns and get handed our diplomas will soon be a reality. The year we’d never thought would arrive is here.
I remember when I first walked through the doors of Mountain Range, the school was so big in comparison to middle school. I was so nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to find my classes and was so worried about fitting in and making friends. My sophomore year was a bit rough, but it taught me many things. It taught me to treat the people who love and care about me with kindness even when I’m not doing well myself. In March of that year, we were infamously hit with a pandemic. It's crazy to think that the class of 2022 only had one non-pandemic year of high school. Even with the death, destruction, and devastation of the pandemic, I felt some sort of hope within it all. In our junior year, we were all locked away in our homes. I was thankful for the personal growth I made and the changes I wanted to make in my life once we returned back.
We’ve reached the final stretch, faced with many paths and roads not taken. I imagine all the stories I will tell my children about high school, all the ongoing jokes I will still have with my friends long after high school, and the music and pop culture trends that we will reminisce about in decades to come. I imagine the high school reunion our class will have and how different everyone will be by then. I can only hope that the community and spirit our class has built-in these four years we will carry into our lives after. These 4 years we will never get back. We will never have a chance to re-do high school, we will never have a class with that favorite teacher again, we will never go to another high school prom, and we will never get to sit down next to our best friend in class again.
But now we look to the future, the lessons we learned in high school, and the things we have discovered about ourselves. To the class of 2022, remember there is still a lot of life to live. High school is just the beginning of our lives, it’s hard to realize that now but there is so much ahead of us. Don’t regret things you have done or should have done in the past but instead look ahead and live with no regrets.
Sincerely,
Mason Zamboni