In a town that’s as closely-knit as Alliance, your peers become more like family. Our graduating class contains about 100 kids, but that’s all we’ve known for these past 13 years. 100 little heads can seem like a lot to keep track of, but we all know enough about one another to paint a vague picture of each other’s futures. I constantly find myself wondering about not only my future, but the futures of these people I’ve spent my entire childhood with.

It’s hard to describe exactly what it feels like when you know that you’re approaching the end of an era. On one hand, I am thankful beyond belief. This constant cascade of seemingly arbitrary assignments has finally stopped and we can move on to bigger and better things. But to accomplish this, we have to leave every single thing we’ve become familiar with: our buddies, our crushes, our teachers, friends, enemies; the book is finally closing.

Again, this entire experience is impossible to represent accurately with just a few words. I just want to drive home this sense of comradery and community as much as I possibly can without running it into the ground. The feeling of moving on is absolutely incredible. We just watched a generation of our pals and peers grow up and mature. I can’t stress the importance of this enough, but I am extremely grateful for everyone who has made this experience possible for my class. Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

Gage Buddemeyer

Staff Writer