Previously Published Jun 2. 2021

To the Bobcats of 2021:

It would be a cliché at this point to call our senior year a year like no other. But cherishing the memories we made along the way and over the previous three years is anything but. 

From the classic College Board inspired one-liners like “don’t drink and derive, or you’ll end up in L’hospital” that single-handedly motivated us to persevere through an absurd number of APs, to the hours of class spent being regaled by stories from our teachers’ lives, our high school experience, though cut disappointingly short in many aspects, finds other ways to live on, even as we say our goodbyes and prepare to take our first steps into the world beyond. 

We are the first class with students who have seen it all—those who joined BISV (or rather, the DoubleTree hotel) at the beginning of middle school and grew up with it over the past seven years. It has been a privilege to leave our own marks and shape our own legacies within the classrooms and student organizations that were a centerpiece of our experience. 

I think I make no exaggerations when I say the combination of Zoom classes and college applications was a collective horror bestowed upon us, but—we made it! Along the way, perhaps we acquired some new skills as well, such as the crucial art of rolling out of bed five minutes before first period. And looking ahead, I am inordinately cheered by the thought of an exciting—and hopefully less turbulent—four years in college. 

All of this is to say: to the Bobcats of 2021, it has been an honor to grow alongside you—to see friends and classmates striving day by day to make our community a brighter place. I can’t wait to see how you’ll change the world.