The last stretch: Seniors reminisce over high school experiences and share plans for the future

 

As the year comes to a close, seniors experience feelings of nostalgia. They remember their best memories and their worst memories. But above all, they remember the friends they made, and are prepared for the next step in their lives: adulthood.

Senior David Adler is psyched.

Adler and his friends have compiled a bucket list to complete before they leave high school.

“Some of the items on our bucket list include doing a color run in San Francisco and taking Zumba classes,” Adler said.

Zumba is a kind of Latin dance, and the color run is a 5 kilometer run in San Francisco. Along the the way, people throw colored powder at you. Adler compared it to the Indian holiday, Holi.

Adler said of all his high school memories, his favorite is the night he and his friend thought there was someone in the back of their car.  

“My favorite memory from high school would have to be the night when [senior] Danielle Savage and I were completely convinced that there was somebody in my backseat or trunk, so we kept on driving all around Saratoga, stopping in random parking lots trying to scare them away,” Adler recalled. “We just heard a sound in my backseat and the reflection of jackets and stuff made it seem like it was plausible for someone to be back there.”

Adler said he and his friend bonded over the incident.

“Now we laugh about it all the time,” Adler said.

Another senior who is anxiously anticipating graduation is Derek Makeever. 

Makeever said although he will miss high school, he is looking forward to beginning the next chapter in his life. This summer, he and several friends are planning on going on a summer road trip.

“We’re going down to Santa Barbara for a week, and then we’ll go to LA for one week,’’ said Makeever, who is originally from Santa Barbara. “We’ll just party. Hang out at the beach, explore Santa Barbara.”

Makeever said he does not have any specific plans for the remainder of the summer. For him, it’s really just a “summer of fun.” He said if he’s learned anything from high school, it’s that “nothing matters.”

“I mean yeah, you can get good grades or not get good grades, but when you go for a job interview, they’re not going to ask you about your high school grades,” Makeever said.

Makeever said the only thing he will miss about high school are his friends. 

“I’ll miss the social atmosphere [of high school],” Makeever. “Everyone knows each other and are really cool with each other.”

Adler said his ultimate goal before he leaves high school is to just do all the things he never did during the past four years, and have all the fun he he never had.

“Before high school is out and over summer, I just want to live life to the fullest and make sure that I experience everything I wanted to do,” Adler said. “I don't want to leave with any ‘what if’s.”