Class of
I HAD NO IDEA By Jason LaBau, Class XII Dean Journey with me for a moment back to the spring of 2018. The Class of 2022 was in Class IX. They were braving Biology and Human Geography and had no idea what awaited them. I was still a new teacher, finishing my fourth year, and applying to be a Class Dean. I knew there was a new plan, in which Class Deans would move with their group each year, strengthening the bonds they would forge along the way. “Ok,” I thought, “I like this group well enough. I’ve taught them Ancient History and Human Geography and know most of them. They’re good kids that I’d be happy to get to know better.”
I had no idea what that long year would bring, the ways it would tear at our sense of community, the extra anxiety students would carry while also carrying the usual junior year anxiety.
Readers, I had no idea.
I had no idea how they would emerge this year, ready to craft new traditions and find new ways to build the ties of community.
I had no idea how quickly they would seep into my head, how soon I would be thinking about them all the time, much like my own kids. I had no idea that Spring Break of 2020 would end with an abrupt pivot to online learning — after, you know, an extra day off for the earthquake. I had no idea the struggles and resilience we would witness among this group of students as they dealt with changed schedules, hybrid learning, masking, distancing, a campus rotation system, and all the other challenges of a global pandemic.
I had no idea how brilliant they would be about finding new ways to forge community—or how they would teach us about what they needed or what community could look like in very different circumstances. I had no idea how many leaders would emerge, how many champions, how many friends.
And here we are, now, still wrestling with uncertainty and pushing forward. What will this year bring? Truly, I have no idea. But I can tell you that we will celebrate. That is my goal this year, to celebrate. To celebrate this most outstanding of Waterford classes, the Class of 2022. They have braved a pandemic and can conquer anything, celebrating as they go. And so, in the following pages, here is a glimpse of the Class of 2022. I hope you’ll come to appreciate them as much as I do.
Senior lunch, September 2021. Photo by Andrew Patteson
