Dear Class of 2010,
As the year comes to a close, I am overcome with a rush of feelings that I must share. I know that when we come back to to campus next fall, none of you will be here. You will be going to college, traveling the world or moving on to the next chapter of your life in some other way.
Your high school days will become a fond memory. You might look back on a particularly hard day, thinking, “Huh, that History 310 paper wasn’t so bad after all,” and wishing for a moment that you hadn’t taken it all so seriously.
Beyond that, you will be living in the real world. Not everyone you talk to will be the same age as you and hardly any of them will know what Head of School Day is. I am incredibly excited for all the experiences that you will have in your life beyond Andover, but I think it’s only fair that you know this: you will be sorely missed.
The reigns of this school were already in your hands when I first walked onto this campus as a new Lower. You led us in cheers, you sent us emails inviting us to clubs and you seemed to have the answers to all of our Andover-related questions. Your wisdom was unquestionable. You were our captains, our editors, our Blue Keys, our club heads and our proctors. You stomped the ground of the Chapel every time anyone mentioned the words “ten” or “Seniors” at ASM.
As far as I knew, you had been the Senior class forever. I must have known somewhere in the back of my mind that someday you would step back from those positions so that the Uppers could step into your shoes. However, that day seemed to be in the unforeseeable future and when boards changed, when I received goodbye emails from club presidents and when I realized that almost every single member of my beloved Women’s Forum board was graduating this year, it almost came as a surprise to me. It was a very bitter one too.
Don’t get me wrong! I’m excited for next year. I can’t wait to see what 2011 will do, how they will change the school and how they will take on the positions left vacant by the Seniors. They are definitely eager and qualified to take on these responsibilities. I am not only referring to the responsibility of leading our sports teams or taking on other important leadership positions but also the responsibility of leading us as a school. They are the ones we will look up to, the ones who have survived Upper Spring and the ones who will have to think about leaving Andover and stepping out into the real world.
What are some other reasons to be excited for next year? Well, I can finally befriend the class of 2013 now that they are going to be Lowers. Unfortunately, it will be their duty to torment the incoming class of 2014 by glancing at them condescendingly in Commons and hissing “freshmen” in a threatening tone. I will even look forward to that because I know the affectionate teasing is short-lived.
I am eager to be an Upper, albeit tentatively. It’s almost exciting to take on more responsibility, to thin your blood with caffeine until your friends start to suspect that you’re a caffeine-fueled robot, to tell Lowers that they have it easy and to bond with other people in your class over history papers and the stresses of college. Taking on that sense of maturity will be a great challenge.
I look forward to starting a new year and arriving at a new juncture in my career at this school. But I will always look back on this year with a certain degree of nostalgia. When it comes down to it, you all were great leaders. You were excellent at aiming blue shark candy into a crowd, masters at debate, superb at singing a cappella and you could even run really really fast. I don’t know anyone outside of this school who can pull off a Lady Gaga outfit while conducting an orchestra. Looking beyond all of your talents, you were great friends. That is how you will be remembered in my mind.
I will end this year and start the next with a bittersweet feeling. On the one hand, I cannot help but feel excitement over the new faces, the new opportunities and the new challenges that lie ahead. But on the other, I will truly miss everything that defined my Lower year at Andover. And that includes getting trampled by a very excited Senior holding a plastic spoon in the air.
Sincerely Yours,
A Rising Upper
Tia Baheri is a new Lower from Plano, TX