A letter from Principal Thomas to the Class of ‘23

Stafford Thomas Jr. Principal

“It’s all about the drive,” is a phrase which summons feelings of traveling on an odyssey or perhaps taking the road less traveled. Both would be quite accurate comparisons to your high school experience. You and I have grown a lot over these years and the multitude of varied and shared experiences I hope have changed us for the better. I can say that the feeling in the building and the spirit of the school is better at this moment in time than it was four short (or long) years ago. I attribute these positive shifts to your commitment, your drive to first make the best of a difficult situation and more recently, to make the most of “normal” times. Your drive to build or be part of the school community has helped us to define for the greater community what it means to be a Wrecker.

You will never be accused of being stuck “in park” or waiting for something to happen. Your class has demonstrated that you are driven to make change happen and to not wait around due in part to your genuine understanding of the true value of the commodity known as time. Your drive will get you through the increasingly complex and turbulent world. I cannot think of a time where one class of students experienced two seismic shifts in education; Covid in your first two years and ChatGPT this