As the Class of 2024 reminisces over the past four years here at Fenwick, one quote specifically comes to mind by Robin Sharma: “Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end." I feel as if this quote perfectly encapsulates the spirit of our seniors sitting here today.

Even before our years here at Fenwick, we took the anxiety-ridden entrance exam. The atrium seemed bigger, the teachers peered down at us, and the classrooms themselves were menacing. Unfortunately for us, these worries manifested true.

Our first experiences here at Fenwick were not what we expected when we took our entrance exam. Instead of meeting the entire class through our classes, sports, and getting involved through the club fair, we were split up into A and B groups, assigned classrooms for our lunches/ study halls, and the addition of masks certainly did not help when making new friends. Many of us, like me, name our freshman year as our worst year of high school. However, as every day passed on, it became our new normal. Our class adapted instead of shutting down. We did in fact make friends. We joined clubs on zoom. We played and dominated all of our sports spring semester. We succeeded in the hardest beginning possible. It was because of this hard beginning that made our class determined, driven, and discarding our memories from freshman year.

And so, we used sophomore year as an opportunity to find success and to thrive. We were free from having to be split up into A and B groups, the classes below us had a club fair, and we finally had actual sports seasons!  The opportunities we missed out on the year before made us more determined than ever. We did kill it our sophomore year: football state championship, cross country state championship, ACES state championship, and Math Team state championship were all a part of our “comeback” year. This was the year we expected when we took that entrance exam. Things especially got exciting when we were approved to be maskless! Seeing everyone’s full faces and sparkling smiles as you pass them in the hallway made all of us especially excited for our next two years in this building. 

Remember the part about the “messiest”? Yeah, many of us would consider that our junior year. AP classes, practice SAT or ACTs applying for scholarships, the poverty project, the service project, and so much more all while maintaining good grades to stand out to colleges. Good luck sophomores… All of these trials and tribulations became what many of us would consider our messiest year of high school. Still, we thrived. We have national merit finalists in this room with us from those practice SATs. AP distinguished scholars sit next to each other, and all of us survived junior year. Just as we had done the year before, and the year before that. We long awaited the greatest year in history of every high school, senior year. 

We had just experienced it. 10 short months of writing out your essays on common app, or if you’re like me, writing, rewriting, and rewriting again. 10 short months of seeing our friends every day. 10 short months becoming Kairos retreatants, and then leaders.10 short months of seeing an acquaintance one last time. 10 short months of a new last every day. Our last homecoming game, friday night lights, basketball game, hangout with friends, or meeting with Ms. Dunne. We all saw our last 10 months fly by. Every one of us should cherish every moment we have for these 4 years. 

Juniors: Be excited for the future that will come, do not get caught up in the messiest year, every rejection is a redirection. Sophomores: Keep doing new things, meet new people, join new clubs, stay adventurous in your next, new grade. Freshmen: Remember this feeling right now. Remember every feeling, every moment, every new classmate, activity. Take it from us, we don’t get to experience a “new” in high school anymore. 

The seniors who start a new beginning, a whole four more years: learn your lesson from high school and don’t take these memories for granted. I’m going to take a note from our orientation, our first time sitting in this auditorium and ask you to look to your left, and look to your right. These classmates of yours around you have been through it with you the past four years. Remember these faces, remember your memories with them. Be excited for them. Know that each and every one of us will find your own successes in life. And as we go on with our lives, remember this exact building in which we all came from, Fenwick. 

So we say goodbye to this auditorium and to Fenwick, but we greet every new experience, opportunity, and face that comes our way.

So thank you Fenwick, thank you faculty, and thank you fellow classmates for the best past four years. 

We are Friars forever.