Class of 2022 Students and Parents: Enjoy the Last Leg of this Journey
Dear H-M Community,
It never gets old.
Having spent my entire career in Catholic education you would think the cyclical nature of the school year would get tiresome. Every year new students arrive, every year the senior class graduates. Despite the repetitiveness of this ritual, there is always a beauty and even a newness that touches my heart, especially as I watch our seniors prepare to move on to their next adventure.
After our all-school Easter Mass this week, a senior said to me that there are only 20 days left of the academic year for the class of 2022. I am sure our seniors have deeply mixed emotions as they prepare to leave school where they have experienced so many things. It can be exciting and terrifying all at the same time.
The same can be said for their parents. Little things catch you off guard, and it’s surprising how many times tears are shed as you flashback through the last 18 years of raising a child who is now about to leave. Last spring, my son’s final Hill-Murray baseball game had me suddenly reliving all of the days spent watching him grow since T-ball.
The end of the year, with all of the traditions, mixed in with the decisions about college and life that occur senior year, and the homework and day-to-day stuff that comes with raising teenagers – it was all a blur at times. Then all too soon, you are sitting in the Cathedral and cannot comprehend how it suddenly is coming to an end.
No doubt there will be tears in the coming weeks, as we will all dearly miss these seniors. They’ve weathered plenty of challenges and remain some of the kindest, most humble, intelligent, and driven teenagers I’ve met.
In that spirit, I would like to share with you an essay written by senior Grace Schafhauser about her volunteer work with the elderly. I was moved by Grace’s words and invite you to find a quiet moment to read her reflections. We often hear all of the negative goings on in the world but at Hill-Murray we are surrounded by the best of humanity.
The class of 2022, their resilience and humor, will stay with us forever. I am certain I speak for all of the faculty and staff when I say that we’ve done our best to prepare our seniors for life’s next step. It fills me with hope to know that they leave us as inquisitive, compassionate, resilient leaders grounded in the teachings of Christ.
And that never gets old.
