By Babiha Kaur, Digital Editor
It’s hard to believe that the Class of 2023 has already graduated from River Hill, having left a profound impact on the school. With every new school year comes new students, new opportunities, and new rising seniors. River Hill’s next graduating class, the Class of 2024, is determined to continue the legacy that the Class of 2023 has left behind.
River Hill’s current juniors have begun to realize how soon they will be stepping into their final year of high school. Junior Smera Singh remarks, “You kind of have all this hype about going to college, eventually becoming a senior, but you don’t actually think it will happen, so I feel like I’m kind of at that stage right now, I’m letting it all sink in.” Like many, Smera’s grade school career has passed by quickly, and she is surprised that she will be graduating next year.
The transition out of junior year varies for everyone, as it seems like such a sudden change for many. Junior Sanvi Gopisetti describes her realization as “unsettling because it’s kind of putting into perspective that we only have one more year left of being a child, one more year left of seeing my friends here, [and] roaming the hallways here.” Sanvi is looking forward to spending one more year with her lifelong friends while participating in many special senior events. She also comments that she does not want to leave her friends, elaborating, “I don’t know where we’re going to end up afterwards. Some of us might stay in the state, but some of us might go out of state or out of the country, and I don’t know when I’ll see them again.”
Starting a new school year can often be stressful yet exciting, as it is for the Class of 2024. The rising seniors are looking forward to many aspects of their next school year while also not wanting to leave. Sanvi has “mixed feelings” about twelfth grade. She remarks, “On one hand I’m super excited to start a new chapter of my life, get[ting] to know new people, and actually starting to be independent and chasing my own dreams. But it’s also very nostalgic knowing that I’m growing up [and] I have all of [these] responsibilities.” Sanvi is eager to make her senior year a good one despite the difficulties that might come about. Smera agrees, commenting, “I feel like senior year is going to be very fun but it’s also going to be very stressful, and I’m not really looking forward to having that really awkward sort of balance between the two.”
With senior year comes the dreaded college applications task. Although many students may not be looking forward to applying to schools, others have plans for how they will approach the process in the coming months. Sanvi comments, “I want to try and get a lot of my college apps done in the beginning parts of the year so that way I don’t have to stress about it later. I’m going to work a lot during the summer on that in [the] hope that I can get them all done by November.” By working on college applications early, Sanvi is hoping to be able to free up a lot of her senior year, making it more enjoyable later on.
The rising seniors are determined to make the next school year a great one, after working hard for such a long time. Smera exclaims, “I’m going to work really really really hard, [and] I’m going to grind on all those essays so that I can get into the school that I really want to go to, and I hope to have all my family there for graduation.”
And with that, best of luck to the Class of 2024, our next senior class!