The class of 2026 is ready to fly.
The walk across the graduation stage is only a couple weeks away, but for students who have been in the same district since kindergarten, that walk has been 12 years in the making.
They started with twinkle-toes shoes and finger paints; now, they are finishing with college applications and career goals.
As the final bell approaches, the seniors are reflecting on a journey seeing themselves grow up alongside with the same friend group.
The transition feels unreal for seniors like Shara Clark, who still remembers her first day of kindergarten. “I remember being terrified of the big kids in the hallways,” said Clark. “Now, I realize I am the big kid, and those hallways that used to feel like a maze feel like my own backyard now.”
For many, the school building has become a scrapbook of their lives. “Every corner of this school has been a memory,” said Clark.
As the countdown to graduation hits single digits, the final days take on a heavy emotional weight for seniors as they transition from 12th grade to the real world.
“You spend 12 years wishing you were older,” Tashayla Miller, senior, said. “Then we get here and realize that we’re about to lose a home not just the school.”
