Graduation season is here! The 2024 seniors are only a month away from their graduation, signifying the end of a 13 year long journey, and on to the next. As the school year soon comes to close, these seniors are getting ready for the once and a lifetime high school graduation they have worked so hard to get to.
As one of the biggest high schools in Washington, Tahoma recognises around 700 graduating seniors each year. This year is no different. Currently, seniors are in the process of signing up for walking partners (if they so choose) and picking up caps and gowns. Even with the school being so large, each year in the graduating season Tahoma High School encourages togetherness in this process through events where seniors can be with their fellow graduating seniors and look back on not just the last four years, but all of their schooling years thus far.
Coming up, seniors will have finals on the week of June seven- June 12. After that, there is a senior check out and send off. While the senior send off is not required, it is a great opportunity for seniors to reflect on the past years by walking through their old elementary school. This will be happening on June 13, just in time to check out later that day. From there, our Tahoma seniors will be in full graduation mode and ready for the rehearsal the morning of June 20. The actual ceremony will be later that day.
Brian Castelluccio explains his excitement for graduation and plans for after high school. Castelluccio is a graduating senior this year and is a four year member of the Tahoma Track and Field team.
“I’m pretty excited to be graduating and moving on to new things, I feel like the closer graduation gets, the more excited I am for it. I am going to be attending Indiana University in Bloomington.”
Castelluccio explains that some of his greatest memories have come from track, “hanging out with [his] teammates during practice and at meets.” But, with this big change, Castelluccio expresses both excitement and the nerves that can come with this change.
“I’ll definitely miss all of the people I have met and the friends I have made throughout highschool and the rest of my years in the Tahoma School District. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and living on my own in a completely new place. It might be a little difficult to adjust to, but I think it will be a good new experience for me.”
Additionally, we interviewed Ellie Carlson on her exciting graduation plans for 2024. Ellie says, “I am very excited because I am ready to move to bigger things.” She plans on attending Boise State University in the Fall, which she fell in love with on her visit. Looking back, Ellie expresses her past experiences in high school, from things she loved, highlights of her senior year, struggles, and challenges. Ellie explains that her favorite things include sports events, hanging out with her friends, and all the people she got to meet during high school.
Along with the amazing memories that will stay with through her life, she faced a few challenges consisting of hard classes. “I really struggled with UW Chem and math in general. However, it taught me to push through at the hardest times and really helped me do my best,” Ellie says. This is similar to high school experiences you will go through which are necessary to grow up, mature, make new friends, learn social skills, and be the best version of yourself throughout high school.
Tahoma High School will be celebrating this year’s graduating senior class of 2024 at the Showare Center in Kent. Each senior has six tickets to bring friends, family and loved ones to come and experience this moment with them. Make sure to congratulate the senior class as they go off to experience the next phase of their life and the adventures that come with that.
