Students in the class of 2024 are getting ready to graduate on Sunday.
“I’m very excited,” said senior Taylor Stanley. “I enjoyed my time at high school and I had a great time, but I feel like I’m ready to try something new and be in a new place.”
Taylor is going to the University of Northern Iowa to study business. She said she originally wanted to be a journalist, but last fall she decided she would rather pursue business as a career and journalism as a hobby.
“I did have a bit of a fear that I wouldn’t know what to do – and I think that’s still kind of true – but I think it’s calming that some people switch careers and that I feel a bit better knowing I have a major I want to do even if I do not know what I want to do with it,” she said.
Just like Taylor, Tyler Davis is getting ready to graduate.
Tyler is going to DMACC for cybersecurity and says that is what he plans to do after high school. Davis talked about working for Anaconda and other types of programs in a wide-open field.
Davis also spoke about the nerves of college, saying, “There might be a detail you’ve forgotten about, which would be the scariest thing to figure out.”
After speaking with Stanley and Davis, we turned and looked at Jenny Thomas, their journalism teacher, and what she thought about the class of 2024.
“There’s something special about those students you teach at the very beginning of your career,” Thomas said about the class of 2024. “Everything is new and you really appreciate the grace students gives you while you’re figuring it out. I feel a pretty strong bond with the students who helped me get into the initiation of teaching. I think those first students will stand out clearly in my memory throughout my teaching career.”
As we say goodbye to the class of 2024, we welcome the next set of seniors for the year of 2025. After spending thirteen years with this class, it’s time to let them go and let them embark on a new chapter.
“I feel a lot of emotions as the end of the year approaches,” Thomas said. “But I know I will get to know the new class when it gets here next year, and they will be fabulous people as well.”
