The class of 2018 is no different from the decades of other graduating classes that came before it. Graduating seniors must inevitably take their final tours around WHS, saying goodbye to beloved teachers and friends and turning in late work before final report cards are sent out.

While some seniors see their last day of high school as a godsend, many others are fearful for the future. Some students cannot wait to go out and experience the world without parental boundaries. Others see graduation as a confusing montage of obligatory independence and grey areas without rules and guidance.

Senior Reese Lebbing maintains that she will stay optimistic about her future even though she and the rest of her peers are about to step out into, what it seems like, the great unknown. Lebbing is one of the few seniors choosing to attend college out of state. In the fall, Lebbing will attend Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, as many of her former classmates start their work at Mizzou, Missouri State, SLU, Webster and Jefferson College, to name a few.  

“Many seniors are very relieved and excited about graduating and doing something else, but there are just as many who are very nervous and don’t know how they will like the change. But for me, I have a little bit of both.  I have enjoyed high school and loved all four years, but I feel like they have been preparing me to ultimately move on. You don’t have to love or hate your high school years, but appreciate what they teach you for the rest of your life. We have some especially amazing teachers and staff who have helped us all grow,” said Lebbing.

For me, I will forever look back on my high school experience fondly. I contribute a little bit of my happy memories to newspaper; it gave me an impassioned purpose in a time where many of my peers felt lost. I have written dozens of stories throughout the last three years, and I can sleep peacefully at night knowing that I can always fall back on journalism if my perspective career plans crash and burn.

I cannot encourage underclassmen to join the WHS Publications staff more because it offers students an opportunity to see Windsor not just as a bland high school, but as a community. Nearly every one of my articles motivated me to better understand my peers and their accomplishments, my teachers and their productions.