Message from the Advisor Johnston clAss oF 2023

Good evening everyone. Goodbye and Good luck.

Just kidding. I want you all to know how much I struggled with writing this. The beginning is the hardest part, because really, how do you begin to say goodbye to people who have been such an important part of your life for 4 years?

As our time together comes to an end, let us reflect on what a bizarre journey it has been. I began the 2019 school year with high hopes for a great next four years that would finish up my teaching career. I was determined to know everyone by graduation so I requested all the freshmen. You arrived with seemingly boundless energy, enthusiasm, and in many cases, attitude. The year started like any other- fundraising, homecoming hoopla, and battle of the classes. We had a very successful fall and defeated the seniors in Tug-of-war at BOTC and managed to place second with our “End of the Lion” float. We had about 45 students involved in the project and I could see how well everyone got along and worked together.

By mid October I was thinking I had made a terrible mistake in asking for all the freshmen- I mean, really, who does that by choice? There were certainly some challenging classes in my schedule- you know who I am talking about…Second semester arrived and so did COVID. We were all sent home for the rest of the year.

After a brief training session for teachers on how to work from home and engage students in learning, we embarked on virtual school. It was difficult to say the least. I had a new dog, a college freshman, a high school freshman, and myself all sharing work space. The end of the school year could not come soon enough.

Sophomore year began and so did hybrid school. We were able to come back to school with severe limitations. Best friends were separated from each other based on the first letter of their last name. Social distancing and masking were the order of the day. Homecoming activities and sports were called off. Everything that made school fun was put on hold. For you all, who Mr Harwood has named “the cozy class”, the year must have seemed endless. The building was an extremely quiet and a lonely place to be. Many of you truly struggled to engage in classes and fell behind. I applaud you for your efforts in making up for that lost time so that you are here with us today. In the spring, the experts deemed it was safe for sports to proceed with shortened seasons. It was a sure sign that things were turning around. The boys volleyball team won the division championship with 4 sophomores in starting positions. Junior year brought everyone back together. We continued wearing masks, but it was wonderful to be in school. It was amazing to see how everyone had changed during their year at home. Most of the boys were unrecognizable- it seemed they all grew 6 inches in that time and their voices changed. We had an event we called a class reunion that was a huge success. Everyone got down to work to make up for the time lost. Social activities and sporting events returned. Mandatory masking came to an end and we got to see each other smile for the first time in a year. We had an outdoor homecoming dance, won first place in float and second in battle of the classes. The sporting highlights that year included the wrestling team winning their division and the boys volleyball team winning their first state championship. We had a great Junior prom and it was smooth sailing into senior year. This year was strange and eventful. It’s probably all fresh in your minds so I will mention just the highlights. Girls soccer won the division title. Boys basketball finished first in d2. Boys volleyball had an undefeated season, winning the division for the second time and also the d3 states for a repeat championship. Congratulations to you all. You challenged yourselves with white water rafting and rope climbing in Maine and then had a beautiful night for senior prom. And, in the blink of an eye, it is over. I hope this makes you a little sad because it means that you had experiences that you will cherish and miss. Nothing in your life will ever be the same as your high school experience. So that’s the recap.. Now I would like to tell you what I will and will not miss from the last 4 years here. I will not miss “the most difficult class” I have ever had in 35 years of teaching. There was a girl in it who looked at me one day and said “ Miss, why do you keep looking at me? “ She had the head thing going and everything. I will not miss her at all. I will miss the same girl who this year emailed me pictures of her freshly done nails so I could be one of the first people to see them. She also sent me a TikTok of a girl obsessed with crocheting because she thought I would enjoy it. I will greatly miss that girl.

I will not miss the 150 plus hours of float meetings I have attended every summer and fall for the last 8 years. Creating a float is so much more work than you can ever imagine- sometimes it felt like I was herding cats to get you to be even a little productive. I will miss seeing your determination and the friendships that developed during the endless hours we all spent together. We created some pretty spectacular floats. I will miss seeing my float families. I would like to thank Tina Broduer and Auntie Alberta for opening their homes to us for 4 years. I would especially like to thank Colleen and Dave Muller for hosting and building floats for the last 8 years! I will miss the crazy of the overnighter where your parents finally got to see what it was you had all been doing all those hours at “float”. Seeing the pride on your faces when the last piece was put on will be a memory I will always cherish.

I will not miss the spontaneous wrestling matches that have broken out among the same groups of boys in PE for the entirety of your time here. How you all end up together year after year is a mystery! I am happy to report that I did not see any occur upstairs while we were waiting. I will miss your enthusiasm for participating in PE. Your energy and great desire for competition made my job easy and a lot of fun. Thank you for that.

I speak for myself on this one but I am sure your parents share this thought. As a parent of lifelong athletes, I will not miss the endless hours I spent driving to and from practices and waiting for practices to end. However, I will miss watching you compete in the sports that you love. You should all be proud of your accomplishments and the life lessons you have learned in your experiences. Take those lessons with you into your next adventure. Fear nothing and challenge your limits. Work hard and dream big.

I will not miss the science fair, however I will have to find another outlet for my freakish freeform letter cutting skills. I have nothing more to add to that one.

This one is also particular to my situation. I will not miss the time I spent everyday waiting for you to get in the car so we could get somewhere on time. It was a relief when you finally got your driver’s license. However, I do miss the 7 minutes a day that I spent with you alone, and could maybe get a few words about how everything was going. Everyone, please check in with your parents when you leave home. They need to hear your voices and know that you are doing okay.

There are certainly other things that I will miss about my years spent at the high school. Not the school itself, that is just a building. If all goes according to plan it will change significantly in the next couple of years so you probably will not even recognize it as your high school anymore. I will miss the people and the experiences. I will most especially miss the class of 2023. You will forever hold a special place in my heart and in my memories.

So we have come to the end of our time together. Some of you are off to college or the workforce. Some have enlisted in the service and will begin that very soon. I would like to finish up with some brief words of advice. For those of you who were here 4 years ago- it is the same with one additional thought. Show up and be ready. Ready to learn, ready to work, ready to serve. Don’t make excuses. Take responsibility for your actions. Make choices that show you respect yourself. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but also learn from them. Honor your obligations. Show respect to others. Be kind.

The additional thought- Do not let the fear of failure keep you from trying new things and taking risks- except of course, if you are going to try is something akin to rolling a 1,200 pound tire down a hill. Then I ask for you to consider all the things that might possibly go wrong and find yourself another challenge, maybe one not quite so ridiculous.

Thank you all for your attention. I wish you nothing but success in your future endeavors. I challenge you to go out and make the world a better place.