Believe it or not, the class of 2022 is graduating in less than two weeks. In preparation for the week of graduation, the senior class leaders and class advisor Katie Johnson have collaborated to host a special week for seniors to enjoy their remaining few days as high schoolers.
While June 3rd is the last official school day for the senior class, they still have another week after that until graduation. Beginning June 6th, seniors will be attending events meant to celebrate their time together. Some events include a senior barbecue, a semi-formal banquet dinner, and a class trip to Fort Foster.
The first day of activities begins on Monday, June 6th, where seniors will gather at 10:00 am for a required graduation practice. The practice will take place in the auditorium and students are expected to return their school laptops and chargers during this time. Following the graduation practice, there will be a barbeque at 12:00 pm where students can enjoy food and receive their yearbooks.
On Tuesday, June 7th, there is another graduation practice at 10:00 am. In the evening, from 5:00-7:00 pm, the senior awards ceremony will take place, where families and school staff members are invited to attend, as well.
Wednesday, June 8th, is the long awaited senior class trip to Fort Foster. Students who signed up for the trip must take the transportation provided which departs at 9:45 am from the high school. Students are encouraged to bring sunscreen, a beach towel, or games to have a fun beach day. While this venue wasn’t the class trip that many students were hoping for, senior class officer Mark Mendoza (‘22) said, “it was challenging [planning a senior trip]. We had originally planned on either Boston or Six Flags, but when it came to numbers we found that we would not have enough funds for either. Fort Foster may not be as exciting as people hope for, but I think it would be exciting for the grade as a whole.”
Class Advisor Katie Johnson expanded on this. “We ran into many hiccups when planning the senior trip. We would agree on something, or get the opinion of an activity from the entire senior class and then we would run into snafus.We had to remind ourselves that we are still dealing with issues resulting from COVID, so Fort Foster was the compromise to be able to still do some type of trip and a place that our buses could transport us to within the school day hours.”
Besides the senior class trip and the barbeque, Mendoza explained that the student government wanted to get the class together another time. He said, “we were thinking that a Senior Banquet would be nice to get the whole class together and enjoy a large semi-formal event together.”
Johnson continued, “We really wanted seniors to be able to dress up, and have one last meal together before graduation. A place to talk, reminisce, dance, eat and just have fun together before graduating and going off in a million different directions and pathways.”
The Senior Banquet will be held on the Thursday of Senior Week, June 9th, at 5:30 pm at the Regatta Room in Eliot, Maine. An RSVP is required to attend and students should provide their own transportation. Prior to the dinner, there will be a graduation practice at 8:30am and a senior walk through ORMS or Barrington Middle School, as well as Mast Way or Moharimet at 10:00 am.
Finally, on Friday, June 10th, there will be a full graduation practice at 9:00 am. Later in the afternoon, seniors are expected to arrive for graduation at 4:45 pm to line up promptly at 5:45 pm. The graduation ceremony will officially begin at 6:00 pm.
With the stress of final projects and deadlines approaching, students are looking forward to senior week to relax and enjoy their last time together. Rachel Rowley (‘22) said, “getting to participate in grade-wide activities we actually enjoy, it’s refreshing. It’s so exciting to know I am part of something I’ve always wanted to do.” Rowley continued to explain that the activities will be exciting because the stress of school would be gone for senior week.
Gracie Gagne (‘22) agreed and said, “I am so excited to just be done with school and work and finally just be with my friends.”
Similarly, Nathan Mendoza (‘22) said, “I am just excited that I get to spend a very fun-filled week with some of my best friends before we have to go our separate ways for college.”
After years of hard work, Oyster River’s class of 2022 are finally graduating and moving onto the next chapter of their lives. Good luck and congratulations!
Artwork By Evy Ashburner