Several students have chosen to graduate at the semester rather than at the end of the year with the rest of their peers. When a senior graduates at the end of the first semester, their friends and other relationships are affected. Their classmates will have to get through their graduation without them. How are the students handling the early departure of their friends?

A majority of students, 83.3%, said that they knew someone who graduated early, the other 16.7% saying they did not. Of those who knew someone, a majority of the relationships were close (74%), the rest knowing these seniors as simple classmates or peers (26%). With most of the school having a close connection to at least one early graduate, the student body will most definitely be affected, whether that be in a positive or negative way.

Every person has dealt or will have to deal with the loss of friends and peers through their eventual graduation. Some choose to remain positive in this loss, focusing on their friend’s diligence and finding inspiration and  pride in their achievements.

“I’m mainly happy for them,” Andrew Frecks (‘22) said.

“[Their graduation] is inspiring, and it makes me want to do better in school,” Isabella Smithey (‘23) stated.

However, some students could not help the low-spirited feeling that their friends early departure gave them, wishing that they could have stayed longer and missing them in their day-to-day school lives.

“I miss being able to talk to them in class and at lunch,” Benjamin Sutphin (‘20) said.

“It almost feels like I’m losing my friends to life’s inevitable outcome; growing up,” Gina Saso (‘22) confessed.

Although most people were affected in some way by the seniors’ departure, a still large amount of the student body was not really moved in any real emotional way.

“It doesn’t affect me much, but her graduation was odd for a few days at the beginning of the semester,” Graham George (‘23) explained.

“It doesn’t really affect me in any way,” Ruth Fugate (‘20) said.

A few students even confessed that they were positively affected by the seniors’ early leave, for their own personal reasons.

“There’s less people in the halls,” Jonathan Watkins (‘23) said.

One of the most curious ways that students have been affected by the early graduation is how the students feel about their upcoming graduation. Some students look positively towards it, and seeing the early graduates only increases their anticipation.

“It makes me feel excited and nervous for when I graduate,” Isabelle Kuykendall (‘23) said.

“I’m a senior so I’m excited to graduate in May,” Ruth Fugate (‘20) stated.

Even so, there are students who only feel nervous and upset about their eventual graduation, saddened by the fact that they will have to leave so much behind.

“It’s hard to think about. I’ll be a senior next year and it still feels like freshman year was yesterday. I’ve made so many friends, and I just want to make more memories with them,” Lilly Swafford (‘21) said.

“It’s honestly really scary thinking about how in a few years I will be out in the real world,” Kinslee Keatts (‘22) confessed.

Whether negatively or positively, every student was influenced in some way by the senior’s early graduation. However the event caused each individual student to feel, one thing is for certain; each student is now thinking more about their future, looking forward into what the rest of their life could be like after high school.