Senior Farewell is a tradition at Academy. Every year the high school assembles to thank the seniors for being the leaders of the school, and to wish them the best of luck in their college endeavors. This year, the teary-eyed event was held in the gymnasium Tuesday morning.

Seniors Audrey Cooper and Christina Thompson represented their class by speaking to the congregated underclassmen and faculty about their experiences at the Academy and reminisced about some of the highlights of being a part of the class of 2016.

Thompson began her speech by offering some advice to the freshmen. She asked the class to “cherish the little things that make your class unique.” The talk was heavily composed of suggestions to the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen; urging each class to be kind to one another and to appreciate the things they have in common.

Thompson called attention to some of her classmates for their achievements during high school. This included athletes Avery Stanechewski, Anya Muyres, Olivia Rivas, and Julia Lester, singers Avery Dierks and Emily Ulbricht, and finally artists Hadley Chillura and Natalie Cevallos. She also commemorated Pia Roca for her dedication to politics.

Cooper took a slightly different approach in her speech to the underclassmen. Not only did she ask the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen to “learn from our mistakes,” but she first pointed out some of the more notable “mistakes” that the class of 2016 is known for. While Academy administration is sure to be upset about some of these comments, it is very clear that these events are what made the class of 2016 so unique.

After these speeches were given, the freshmen shared a poem urging the seniors to follow their dreams after high school, the sophomores recited a prayer, and the juniors showed a video comprised of baby photos of the seniors, juniors and faculty talking to the seniors, pictures of the seniors throughout the years and finally their official senior portraits.

The event came to a close as the senior class all came together to jam to a few songs for the last time at Academy.

Senior Miranda Plummer remarks, “I’m going to miss Academy like Harry missed the train to Hogwarts and ends up hitting the wall.”