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Spartan Shield

The student news site of Pleasant Valley High School

Spartan Shield

The student news site of Pleasant Valley High School

Spartan Shield

Graduates who aren’t really, graduating?

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The senior class of 2019 throws their caps at graduation.

As students go through high school and watch their peers above them, graduate, one starts to notice how many of them tend to stick around: a lot. But why? In all of the movies and shows, high school is portrayed as one of the most miserable times of your life, and for many people– it is. 

Despite this, many graduates are still keeping their high school lives past the intended four years by visiting their old friends and teachers all the time. Although there are many amazing teachers and friends from high school that will make anyone want to visit every now and then, there comes a point where one can’t really call it “visiting” anymore.

“Graduates are graduates for a reason, and should have bigger goals and dreams than staying in their high school forever,” said senior Katie Gropel. “It’s one thing to come back every once in a while to visit friends, but to come back every weekend to relive your high school life is embarrassing.”

Graduation is something everyone looks forward to; it symbolizes the moment one finally reaches independence from their childhood to pursue the new life they always dreamt to have. But if alumni are regularly stepping back into their childhood lives, have they really graduated?

High school lasts four years, and should only last four years. Pleasant Valley does an excellent job of preparing students for a bright future ahead of them; it’s sad to see graduates who have so much potential waste that energy by pursuing their nostalgia instead of their dreams. It’s crucial to move on from the past in order to make progress for the future. No matter how hard or scary that is to do, it needs to happen if one wants to go anywhere in their life.

No, it’s not easy to start a new life away from the old one, but one can’t grow if they aren’t willing to make themselves uncomfortable. The comfort zone won’t be comfortable forever, so one should make themselves comfortable doing the uncomfortable things, and move on. The moment one can finally do that is the moment they’ve truly graduated from Pleasant Valley High School.

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Elise Johnson, Arts and Entertainment Editor
Elise Johnson is a senior at Pleasant Valley High School, and currently counting down the days until graduation. In her near future, she will be attending the University of Iowa as a biology and chemistry student on the pre-med track in hopes to one day reach her lifelong goal of being a dermatologist. As she waits to pursue her dream job, she focuses on her other passion in life: music. Elise has played the tenor saxophone for 7 years, and has recently become a drum major for the Spartan Marching Band. She also played the viola in 4th grade, but was forced to quit when her mother told her to choose between orchestra and band. She hopes to one day avenge that moment in her life by relearning the viola in college and becoming the violist she always dreamt of being as a 4th grader. Some of her other goals for the future are to learn fluent Japanese, join the rowing team, and one day move far into the mountains where she can fulfil a life of peace and simplicity.  
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Graduates who aren’t really, graduating?