Goodbye, Class of 2014
As Ben and I struggle through another mandatory Grad Issue meeting, Ben sits on Facebook and I think of ways to get out of this meeting while having done minimal work. Pulling out last year’s Grad Issue, I can’t help but feel inadequate in comparison to what our previous editors have accomplished: Alice will soon rule the world, and Nick will get the credit for helping without actually helping.
Our motto for the Humor Page this year was “Don’t be a screw up,” and I can’t help to think, that to a certain extent, that was the goal of every upper: to learn from the mistakes of the senior class (and they’ve made many). The seniors of the class of 2014 have served as great role models and leaders, and we often find ourselves asking “How did Alice do it?” We’ve come to realize that we still don’t know how she did it, but we do know that we did it by procrastinating and getting the bulk of our layout done two hours before the deadline. That is the nature of a senior class in any given year: they seem like majestic beings who Know What They’re Doing, but are merely big fish in small ponds. The class of 2014 have completed four (or however many years someone has been here) years at Exeter. After three years of climbing (or crawling, as the end of upper year was upon them), they are at the top, and ready to fly off into coed dorms, unlimited dickeys and no check-ins.
On a more emotional note, it will be hard for us to part with our seniors. These were the lowers that hazed the class of 2015 as preps, the uppers who complained to us and the seniors who gave us college advice when they weren’t in one of their two art classes. The rising seniors have big shoes to fill (have you seen some of the PGs?) and we only hope that we will rise to the occasion.
All of us will have to adjust to life without the class of 2014. Preps, rising Lowers, will no longer wear their lanyard around their necks and finally be able to offer an opinion and have it be validated. Lowers, rising Uppers, will memorize every aspect of the library as they begin to spend all of their time there. Their under eye bags will become more pronounced. Value them as badges of honor. As rising seniors, it will be up to the class of 2015 to know none but be known by all, be a fountain of knowledge for the young ones and totally crush worthy of the lower classmen. I don’t know how much faith I have in the last one.
Last year in her send off, Alice compared the class of 2013 to flies or some type of bug. However, I think it is more appropriate to liken the class of 2014 to butterflies. As preps, the graduating class were pre-pubescent caterpillars that slowly began to create a chrysalis (that was later used for hibernation during their upper spring).
Now, at the end of their time at Exeter, the members of the class of 2014 are about to hatch or break free, or whatever it is butterflies do. Maybe I should have done some research before writing this. Anyway, as seniors join their [College] class of 2018 page, they have the chance to soar freely in their new schools, unfolding their wings and fly towards the nectar of college life. Godspeed, friends.