Reflections on the End of a Career

With the onset of 12^th grade, the beginning of my fourteenth and final year at the Academy, I find that I’m caught in a whirlwind of nostalgia: the last first day, the last Pep Rally, the last time that I’ll have to twist my neck in contortionist angles for a school photograph. It’s often difficult to live in the moment, though, when I’m so focused on college, on looking back in order to look forward to the future. This year is an exciting time, nevertheless. I’m about to launch into the real world, and 12^th grade gives me the chance to tie a bow on what’s been a memorable childhood.

Senior year brings with it immense freedom. A science geek, I’ve been able to tailor my schedule to fit my interests, continuing courses in studio art and social sciences while enrolling in both Physics and Chemistry. These advanced science classes offer new challenges. Although often discomforting, the act of puzzling over difficult problems, often for hours, has immensely enriched my studies and enhanced my understandings overall – and I welcome the demands of these courses. There’s nothing more rewarding than when, after a night of erasing and reworking a Physics solution, my fragmented ideas come together and I grasp the notion of tension. GA recognizes and contributes to our new freedom as seniors, trusting us to maintain our new Senior Lounge, which, even after just a month, looks weathered and lived in. We all gather there often, listening to music or chatting about weekend football games.

As a student who’s been at GA since age four, it’s odd now to be top dog. I love to work with underclassmen and learn from them, and I’ve relished thus far mentoring (on social, emotional, and academic levels) freshman girls on the cross-country team.

Claudia and her fellow senior runners.

I’ve recruited a few of my younger teammates to write for The Edition, our student-run newspaper, which I head with a few other seniors. It’s been great to get them involved with a club that I’m so invested in. In fact, we’ve re-imagined The Edition altogether, integrating into it more international news stories and revitalizing its online twin, a blog called The Second Edition. I approach my work in this and other clubs keenly aware of both my seminal early-on experiences with them (in 9^th and 10^th grade) and opportunities for impactful change.

 Now with GA/PC Day on the horizon, I anticipate an unforgettable year ahead!

~ Claudia M. ‘15