tugged my boots over my sock-monkey feet and strutted out of the dorm and into the Dining Hall. As I paraded into the lunch line, I saw the way people glanced over at me. I saw the judgment. But I felt comfortable, free, and happy, and that was all that mattered to me. I realized at that moment that I finally did not care what people thought. I had gone through my life at this school, I had worked, I had cried, I had busted my butt; by golly, I deserved to go into the Dining Hall in my onesie. That’s one of the greatest things about Sixth Form, and what you should all look forward to: not caring what people think about you anymore. I feel, like retirees, Sixth Formers realize in their last year what actually matters. What other people think of you is not on that list. I like to view myself, as I am sure all of us Sixth Formers do, as the wise grandparent who always has the right advice, whether the kids want it or not. We have gone through everything the little ones are going through now, and I think, like grandparents who have experienced life, we can often know the
right thing to say to get them through. I am so proud of us, because I think that we have truly done a wonderful job this year. I think we have tried to lead the school in a positive direction and have done everything in our power to help those younger than us onto the right path. I will never forget the meetings my prefect group had with Mrs. Bannard. We would sit together and talk about what we could do for our girls if we thought anything was wrong. I will never forget people like Bruce helping his advisee with homework whenever he could. I will never forget the time I taught a certain Third Former that it is Nut-ella not Nootella. A lesson I hope he will always remember. And now here we are, the day we die. The day Groton life ends. Something I have noticed is that when someone graduates, they are ever referred to by those still on campus in the past tense. For example, “Oh my gosh, Lily Edwards was the coolest person ever in the world.” That really makes it seem like there is nothing
beyond Groton, that life truly does stop on this day. But it doesn’t. I promise you. We wouldn’t be sitting here if our parents’ lives stopped after high school. Neither would they. This is the end of a life, a very special, meaningful life that has made us into who we are at this moment. But it is also the beginning of a new one, a reincarnation so to speak. The definition of reincarnation is “the religious or philosophical concept that the soul or spirit, after biological death, can begin a new life in a new body.” Our souls, or the essence of who we are as people, our personalities and beliefs, will stay with us as we move on. But we will have the opportunity to grow and change, to become even more than what we already are. We are not dying today, we are being reborn, and we are taking what we have learned from this life to help us in the next one. I wish you all everything you could possibly hope for in your reincarnation, because heaven knows you have given that to me. And please, for the love of all that is good, keep in touch. Thank you.
Elizabeth Dickson, Brittany Zhang, Charlotte Mellgard, Faith Ocitti, Layla Varkey, Jenna Blouin, Olivia Ladd-Luthringshauser, and Daisy Collins
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