The class of 2024 has faced many challenges, one of the largest being the fact that they are the last grade to have had to miss part of their high school career because of COVID-19. With their graduation coming up soon in May, I wanted to give some seniors a chance to leave behind a legacy, telling Lancers their favorite memories and pieces of advice.
Several seniors named specific sports games as their most memorable times at Saint Francis. Ava Malae, Aidan Fernandez, and Katherine Adkison all fondly look back on the 2021 football game against De La Salle, in which Lancers broke the Spartans’ multi-decade-long win/tie streak; Adkison had the opportunity to watch her older brother play for the Lancers. ASB representative George Jelley mentioned the Boys’ Rugby match against De La Salle last year, where our newly formed team beat the two-year undefeated Spartans. Valerie Huang remembers one tennis match where she and her teammates did karaoke after the match on the way to Chipotle, and she felt “a new level of closeness” between her teammates and herself.
Seniors Lian Elsa Linton, Gabby Ip, and Jelley also named various Saint Francis retreats as their favorite memories. For Linton, senior retreat, which happened recently, gave her the opportunity to meet many new people. Ip’s moment, on the other hand, was junior retreat: “It was a time where everyone, despite [being in] different friend groups, grew closer together and shared funny moments at a night-time activity (if you know, you know). I loved how we pushed school and phones away for the moment and just focused on having a good time. Definitely something I miss and would never forget!” Finally, Jelley says that one of the “best times” he had was the Jesus Reframed Retreat from his freshman year.
The seniors’ favorite Saint Francis memories spanned throughout their entire time as Lancers. Carlos Jison, who transferred to Saint Francis in his sophomore year, vividly remembers his first day at school when he decided to ask cross country coach Mr. Mike Saso about joining the team. “This moment of putting myself out there and talking to Coach Saso led to some of the best moments of my life with the Cross Country and Distance Track team. Whether it’s staying overnight at CCS, crazy rain runs at Rancho, or pumpkin carving contests in the quad, this family embraced me from the jump and is one of the biggest reasons why Saint Francis has truly become home,” Jison says. For Eshaan Andotra, his best memories are more recent; the first was his last day in Mr. Cade Nethercott’s junior US History class, and the second was helping organize LancerHacks VII just two weeks ago.
Almost every senior wanted to tell students to take the time to enjoy high school rather than simply focusing on school work, whether it be through joining clubs and activities or spending more time with friends. Jison, who has attended eight different schools, loves the multitude of opportunities that Saint Francis provides, such as pushing him out of his comfort zone through the a capella group. “Take advantage of these opportunities to grow and to learn new things. Learn from your teachers and peers. Don’t forget to smile and learn to love being a Lancer.” Huang regrets not having spent more time building friendships with classmates. Ip adds, “the best memories are ones that are spontaneous, and these memories are ones that you’ll miss the most before leaving for college.”
As Andotra says, “Even the tiny moments can create big memories.”
