Blue shirts. Lower School buddies. Off-campus lunch privileges. These are all hallmarks of what it is to be a senior here.
For me, it’s an odd, yet powerful feeling. I remember seeing seniors of years past and that mystique that seemed to come up with wearing those blue shirts. I remember sitting in the back of classrooms as a freshman, listening to the seniors leading the meeting at my first-ever clubs. And now, I’m sitting in those same rooms, but in the opposite position.
The same impressions that past seniors made on me? The responsibility and weight of making them is now on my shoulders. And in a very literal sense, my shoulders are going to be carrying my buddy in just a few months. At this school, there’s a lot of waiting to inherit the responsibility of being an older Marksman, in academics, in sports and in just general privileges. Now, my wait is over — and it’s definitely an interesting feeling.
At the same time, all of us seniors have to turn our attention to the other leviathan that has also been waiting for us these last four years: college applications. Our entire high school career, and even longer, has culminated to a process where we have to present ourselves to be evaluated.
Understandably, college apps take up a lot of our time and attention now. After all, we should work hard to get the result we’ve been chasing for so long. But when it becomes all-consuming, we lose the meaning of being a senior.
We lose sight of our responsibility and duty to lead younger Marksmen and to set an example for those to follow. When we make excuses for ourselves and take the easy way out, we tell those younger than us that it’s okay, too. When we retreat into our work instead of being stewards of the community, we leave a void of leadership that no one else might be able to fill.
And of course, there’s the dreaded senioritis that rears its ugly head once applications are over. While understandable too, it’s unfortunate that seniors are known for abdicating their responsibility and work ethic as soon as they get the prize they’ve been chasing. Especially when we are so pivotal to the leadership of almost everything on campus.
But as years pass, the seniors that are remembered, the ones that truly get talked about and praised by their successors, are the ones who never took the easy way out, never gave up their responsibility and never allowed the ease of relaxation to get in the way of the example they wanted to set for the younger generation.
I honestly haven’t been doing the best job, but I want to. And I would urge every other senior to think about what it means to be in their position. It’s not just our last year, and it’s not just the year that we finally figure out what college we’re going to. This is the year where we define more than anyone else what being a Marksman is. This is the year that we set our legacy, both personally and as a class.
So let’s make it good. Let’s make sure that people remember the Class of 2026 as leading in every aspect, and that made its mark clearly and powerfully. Let’s do our best to ensure that people are talking about us in the years to come, not just because of some awards we won or colleges we went to, but because of the very personal impact that we had on them.
Because being a senior is about more than just finishing the job and having that sigh of relief after the race is finally over. It’s about being the leaders on campus. It’s about taking that senior mystique, running with it and making an impact with the power and responsibility you’ve finally been granted.
I know that I’m trying to make this senior year my best one yet. And I would urge all of us to do the same. Let’s make this year great.