The Class of 2022’s Four Years at Ireton

5 | THE BI-WORD The Class of 2022’s Four Years at Ireton

By Jack Grzebien

The Bishop Ireton Class of 2022 has the rollout of a new uniform, an enlarged building, many teachers and new students, and of course many performances and athletic events. While the class’s four years have not been the easiest due to Covid and the loss of a dear classmate, the students continued to work through these challenges and prove to be the successful young people their parents, teachers, and classmates have known they were. Freshman year, students spent their fi rst day on campus on August 27, 2018. Most graduating seniors started at BI that day and since then will have spent 1362 days as a Cardinal before graduation. At the start of freshman year everyone could easily tell a freshman apart from anyone else in the building as they had to wear the new uniform. This look became customary as the next year everyone had to wear it. Freshman year also saw great triumph, in athletics for the girls lacrosse team as they took home the WCAC Lacrosse title to Ireton for the fourth year in a row. Freshman year concluded with the beginning of construction projects and the anticipation of what the building could look like come the start of the next school year. Sophomore year began as any year does. Many students had been on campus earlier in August gearing up for their sports season. The Cardinals started off the year successfully with a football win on Homecoming weekend against St. John Paul the Great and a well done performance of Little Women by the Bishop Ireton Theater Department. The construction of new facilities and improvements continued on throughout the year as the Resource Center doubled in size students ate in the gym, on the bleachers, while the new Murphy Hall was being built. As students returned from Christmas break an occupancy permit had been received and students were able to start eating lunch in the new cafeteria. With all the great happenings around the school, everyone was excited to complete their sophomore year. However, March 13, 2020 is a day that few students will forget. This was the fi rst day Bishop Ireton was closed for Covid-19. Most students believed they were going to have a long weekend and others students believed they might miss a week of school at the longest. No student was prepared for the transition that took place but everyone, with the help of the school, adjusted the best they possibly could and fi nished out the school year with asynchronous remote instruction. Junior year, Bishop Ireton reopened the school with a hybrid synchronous model, a new block schedule was also put into place. The schedule for that year was two days of at home learning followed by two days of inperson learning. Ireton was one of the few schools in the area that had in-person students at all and that benefi ted the students greatly. October of junior year the Ireton community experienced the devastating loss of friend, teammate, and classmate, Aidan Kwelberg. Aidan was an important part of the community as a teammate to many, but most importantly he was a friend to all. Sports made a return that year with abbreviated seasons. Although athletes may not have had the same intensive playing schedule as other years, all were happy to be able to compete at the high level they had seen in years prior. The Fine Arts programs also found ways to showcase their talent with a Virtual Veterans Day Concert and the Theater Department producing a live streamed performance of “OBSTACLES: An Evening of Short Plays.” Senior year started with a complete return to school fi ve days a week and the students were all happy to be back. Students were able to enjoy some normalcy back in the cafeteria without spacing and had the opportunity to participate in a full fall season of sports with the state and conference tournaments which had previously not been available due to Covid. The Bishop Ireton Theater Department had two amazing performances during the Class of ‘22 seniors year. Murder on the Orient Express and Anastasia were two very succesful shows. The Theater Department worked tirelessly through the pandemic to put these on for the school. Senior Bradley Klinck remarked that “Anastasia was a great show and I was proud to see my fellow classmates on the stage again after a rocky two years.” The seniors’ four years at Bishop Ireton were nothing short of amazing. This class has been through more than any high schooler should have to endure. The community at Bishop Ireton, centered around Christ, with the help of administration and Father Noah helped this class persevere through the hard times and helped students celebrate the good times. They have overcome heartbreak, a pandemic, and hours and hours of homework, studying, and projects that all brought them closer to the fi nish line. The hard work and effort has paid off for this class as they head off to college in the fall.