You’re staring at the microphone in front of you, thinking about how you should start off talking to your 236 crying, laughing, and listening classmates. You can now call every one of them a friend because of your senior retreat. It was one of the best memories you’ve ever had. Senior Amber Cook has experienced this at her last retreat at JC.

Freshman Year

Freshmen year is the beginning of high school life. Cook described her freshmen year as exciting because of the long walks to Italian Sensations, the trip to Hershey Park, and homecoming. “Everyone talked to everyone because no one really knew each other and they were trying to find out who they clicked with,” Cook said. During Cook’s freshmen year with the senior class of ’07 as the leaders, she noticed that the classes were more united than they are now. “When I was a freshman, the class of ’07 was the best. They really didn’t make fun of us, they showed us around and they were nice and welcoming. All of them really had something going for them,” Cook said. “The Junior class was the one that always made fun of us and they hated us because we had laptops and they didn’t.”

Sophomore Year

Sophomore year was the year to celebrate no longer being a freshman. “In sophomore year we were still friendly. The only thing that brought us together was sports because I began to notice more cliques,” Cook said. The journeys of walking to Italian Sensations and Starbucks were something that the sophomores and freshman would share. But it was a different story for the juniors and seniors. “I would always see juniors and seniors walking around with their car keys, and think ‘man I can’t wait until I can drive’ while waiting until 5 o’clock to get picked up,” Cook said.

Junior Year

One of the best privileges of being a junior is getting your license. Other exciting events include getting class rings and going on a class retreat. But something else was more important to Cook and the rest of the class of 2010. “Junior year was the ‘guidance counselor year.’They were like ‘okay guys, this is the year that really counts towards college and it’s time to start focusing and start to get your act together,’” Cook said. During her junior year, something clicked and she knew it was time for her to focus on her school work and buckle down. “I began to work hard to get all A’s and sports were still an important part of my life. And as soon as the seniors left, we knew that we were the new role models of the school,” Cook said. The cliques that were formed in sophomore year began to break down with the junior retreat that unified the juniors.

Senior Year

There are more privileges for seniors. During the last two mods on Mondays and the last two mods on Fridays, you won’t see Cook at school. This is because of the senior privilege of arriving to school late and leaving school early. “The chairs in mass, those are a big deal! It’s because they are so comfortable. Senior Field Day, being able to get out of school in May, the award ceremony, senior project, and most importantly graduation, which is right around the corner,” Cook said. When Cook was asked what she would miss, she said “The people, teachers, guidance counselors, and the atmosphere. I will miss the mentality of staying forever young, Mr. Perry yelling at people to put on belts, Mr. Ireton giving detentions, and Mr. Barker looking into our classrooms, and most importantly how we’ve impacted John Carroll as a class.” To Amber Cook the long ride to the end of senior year was worth it. It brought her classmates together to form memories that would last an eternity.

Imani Love can be reached for comment at [email protected].