Written by
Beth Farrah, SMT Writer
Essex, Missouri - When the school year gets close to the end and finals are officially over and lockers are being cleaned out, there are a lot of bittersweet emotions that fill hallways, classrooms, and homes. The current eighth graders are looking forward to becoming freshmen and the current juniors are going on and on about how they only have to survive one more year of high school before moving on to bigger and better things at college.
But while all the underclassmen are making plans for summer vacation, the current seniors are planning for other things. The stress of college applications, ACT scores, and scholarship information is overwhelming all by itself, but on top of that is the realization that twelve years of high school are completely over.
The senior class of 2013 at Richland High School, are about to complete their final week of school. Tomorrow, Friday, May 17th, the students will end the year with an early release at noon and will return to the school one more time for graduation that will take place at 8:00pm in the gymnasium.
The seniors bonded and celebrated the end of their high school career by planning events for ‘Senior Week’ and spending the last week of school together as a time to reminisce and make a few more memories together as a class.
They started their busy week on Monday, where they dedicated their morning to community service around the campus, where they washed windows and helped pick up the school grounds. On Tuesday, they travelled to the Cape Girardeau movie theater and enjoyed a bucket of popcorn and the brand new film “The Great Gatsby” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. On Wednesday, they spent their school day having fun with the elementary students at their annual Fun Day event on the playground and even challenged the teachers and faculty members to a game of softball that the whole student body attended that afternoon. On Thursday, they ventured up to St. Louis to Busch Stadium to watch the Cardinals take on the New York Mets.
Tomorrow will be their last day at Richland and it will definitely be bittersweet for everyone. Even though many classmates may be going in different directions after high school, they will still have many memories together as Richland Rebels. The teachers and students will definitely miss having the Class of 2013 roaming the hallways, but we all know they are currently taking baby steps towards their successful future.
