The Adventures of the Class of 2024

Your Mountain Is Waiting… So Get On Your Way!

Everyone is just waiting. March 10th was the date our admission decisions arrived, and we had to wait six months till the commencement of high school. The majority of us began our tenure at Middlesex during September 2020’s orientation. Coming to Middlesex, some of us were timid while others were excited, and while some traveled great distances, others could have just walked onto campus. Plagued by masks and zebra sticks, we all recognized that we were in the midst of a global pandemic. Someway, somehow, this great force would shape the class of 2024. It would give us a unique, yet uncertain identity. 

Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot! In many ways freshman year was lonely. This loneliness began during our eighth-grade spring, having graduated from middle school online. What hurt most was not being able to take a moment to say goodbye. In short, this end was unfair, making our summers cold with the icy feeling of emptiness. Now, of course, our arrival at high school was a new adventure we could plunge into: new friends, teachers, and experiences--these were the things in our lives that were fresh and created optimism. But, ultimately, we were restricted by strict regulations in the dorms, six-foot zebra sticks, masks that muffled our voices, and laptop cameras that distorted our sense of a real classroom environment. The comfort of our parents was also absent due to distance and restrictive barriers imposed due to community health precautions. Not only that, but our busy schedules, commitments, and quantity of schoolwork further widened the gap of absence felt between us and our parents. 

You’ll start happening too! During sophomore and junior year, nevertheless, we integrated ourselves further into the community. Time was the greatest healer for us. Like one of Shakespeare’s comedies, these two years were a transition from the chaos and the unfathomable to a return of normalcy. We began by facing a difficult Sophomore fall when Nikole Hannah-Jones was disinvited to speak during Black History Month. Our former head of school, Mr. Beare, stepped down from his role as headmaster and left the school. This tragic moment for our school, however, brought the student body closer together. We found meaning in one another: throughout the ups and downs of athletic seasons, weeks of writing workshops, fun Middlesex dances, and challenging exam weeks, we became closer together as a class. We are defined by our hard work, our talent, our ambition, our character, and our joy. The class of 2024 has found its confidence.

You'll move mountains! The pace of Senior year has been too quick. The other day, I was in Malden on our senior retreat at Boda Borg, finishing up my AP Euro summer reading, fearing what happens when a boy thinks he likes a girl he doesn’t know. Today, I am writing this Anvil article, watching the birds outside, watching the spring grass and the flowers, and thinking about what type of cake to get for my Promposal. I have never been so happy. I am excelling academically and succeeding socially. I am so grateful for my experience: the learning I have done and the people whom I have met are things that have composed my Middlesex experience that I’ll never forget.  Life could be a dream. I think I have moved a mountain. Or maybe I am in the sky, just looking at it differently. 

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. Graduation will be an unforgettable moment in our lives when we will be our wisest and strongest selves. It is a day that celebrates the accomplishment of both growth and defiance. We have become great minds, leaders, bodies, and visionists. We have overcome our loneliness, our uncertainties, our fears. Indeed, it is certain that we will reflect upon our time at Middlesex and consider both our best memories and our regrets with sadness. May 26, 2024, will be the last day that our class of 98 will be kids. Life will only become more challenging, unfair, and unpredictable. We will take on more responsibilities. Nevertheless, our swords shall not sleep in our hands. Let us look ahead to the future and build our own Jerusalem. Let us therefore think of graduation as a ceremony of knighthood, entitling us with our promise for our future adventures. 

Congratulations! You're off to great places!

Luca Raffa