The last of the “lasts” is here. In less than one week the class of 2016 will exit the doors of Wahlert as students for the last time. In my humble opinion, the seniors this year are some of the best Wahlert has seen in awhile. That’s setting the bar pretty high, but this group of loud, spirited, and hard-working individuals I’ve had the privilege of spending the last four years with has yet to shy away from a challenge.

This group of 149 students has been through a lot since we strolled into Wahlert in 2012 with our blue folders in tow.

On Tuesday, May 17, the senior class had their final renewal. We looked back on our time at Wahlert and agreed on one thing: We treated the underclassmen the way we wished we would have been treated as underclassmen.

This year, no one was sniffed in the halls, sold pool passes, or generally made to believe they were inferior to the senior class.

Now it seems silly, but as a freshman, there were times I was afraid to ask the upperclassmen cheerleaders if I could sit by them at a team dinner. During my senior cheer seasons, I made sure I invited the freshmen to sit by me.

I was so shy that I just hoped someone would come over and talk to me. I loved hearing advice from the seniors and being the nerd I am, I also had a few hundred questions about high school that I would have loved to have answered.

I always wished someone would have done that for me, and I don’t want the class of 2019 to look back at their freshman year thinking that the seniors were scary and unapproachable.

In the Nest this year, it wasn’t uncommon to see seniors encouraging freshmen to cheer louder at games. Seniors went out of their ways to make sure freshman had rides to practices or events. There was support from everyone for the arts, athletics, and academics.

So, as the seniors are leaving, I challenge the underclassmen to remember the school spirit we shared this year. Remember those seniors that you looked up to (we all have one). Think about all the fun dress up days, the Nest, and all the other things that made Wahlert great. We worked hard to make things like Homecoming and Unity Week everything they were.

You have the opportunity to take these great traditions we started together and make them even better. Take our ideas and run with them. We want to see you succeed. We want you to have more fun and more school spirit than we did.

I hope in 25 years I have kids at Wahlert that come home saying they need to dress like a grandma for Fam Friday, or that they need help making a toga out of bed sheets. I hope that the students still love Wahlert, and the people that make it great, as much as we do.