Advice from the Class of 2025

By Chip Downes-Le Guin ‘25

Photo by Chip Downes-Le Guin ‘25

As the end of the school year quickly approaches, the focus on the future of seniors becomes ever more important as they prepare for the next stage of their lives. Whether it be college, trade school, a job, or a gap year, the past four years of preparation have given seniors a lot to reflect on. 

Through every class, obstacle, and success, there are lessons that have been learned, and a profound knowledge of how to function at the Catlin Gabel School (CGS), which must be passed down. 

For many seniors, an early problem in their high school careers was that of procrastination. Senior Nico Howlett described his process of improving upon this early obstacle.

“In your first couple of years, they give you a bunch of scaffolding. They [say] ‘Complete this part of the project by this day’, ‘Complete this part of the project by this day’, and that scaffolding slowly goes away,” stated Howlett. 

With less structure came more room for procrastination, and as the importance of completing work on your own time increased, so did the workload. For Howlett, “procrastination was [a] bigger [deal] last year, and I've gotten better at that.”

Howlett attributed some of this improvement to the repetition in the formats of certain assignments. 

“Because I've now been at Catlin for so long, assignments have been quicker to finish, just in general, just because I've done them so many times before, so they're actually a lot easier,” commented Howlett.

However, what do you do when you're not able to turn in an assignment on time? Although inexcusable, not to be practiced, and defective, an anonymous senior proffered a unique strategy, stating, “The best technique is to turn in a Google Doc with the link [to Canvas].” 

They continued, “If you are unfortunate enough so that it's on the Google Classroom, my best excuse is to wait until approximately two or three hours before the deadline and then email the teacher saying, I have three tests tomorrow. ‘Can I please turn it in later?’ And since it's a full essay and you don't have anything in your Google Doc, the teacher will be forced to say ‘yes’, because it's kind of hard to write an essay in two hours.” 

Another distinctive strategy shared by an anonymous senior was fleeing the country to avoid being able to turn in or communicate problems with an assignment. “I skipped a few days to leave early for spring break,” said the anonymous senior. “And I said, ‘since I haven't been in class and I haven't been able to use the class work time, I'm gonna need an extension.’”

Unfortunately, in this instance, the apparently “foolproof” strategy failed, and a late penalty was administered. Although there are many ways students have tried to get an extension, honesty continues to be the best policy.

One way to avoid a scenario such as this one, however, was given by senior Alex Shipley. “Meeting with teachers and really taking advantage of Catlin's resources made the biggest difference for me. I was struggling in some classes freshman year, and you just need to be disciplined enough to go in and say ‘Okay, I'm going to meet with this teacher at this time every week if they're free,’” stated Shipley.

Shipley continued, “Setting aside time to meet with teachers and use all the stuff that Catlin gives you makes a huge difference. And I kept doing that throughout all my high school years until senior year, when I didn't have work.”

This close relationship with teachers was an ability often overlooked by seniors. “I really appreciate getting to know all the different teachers… and getting to talk with them every day,” said Howlett.

Along with building connections with teachers, Howlett also advised students to take the classes that they’re truly interested in, especially those that might not be available at other high schools.

Senior Annika Sirtori gave similar counsel on classes unique to CGS. “I will say the Palma Seminar opened a lot of doors for me in terms of being able to have the confidence to reach out to people, especially interviewing, just random people that you find on the Internet,” stated Sirtori. 

Sirtori continued, “[the] Palma Seminar really built my ability to reach out to people, because the projects are so self-driven. So I would say don't leave Catlin without taking advantage of the Palma Seminar.”

Although self-driven projects are a positive for some, others struggled with organizing the work outside of class. “I think that was true with academics in some way. I was someone who needed to put in a fair amount of time outside of school to really get the grasp of stuff, and I'd see people get stuff right away. I was like, ‘why am I not able to do that when I'm working on my stuff?’” stated Shipley.

Figuring out how to work outside of school and take advantage of the resources it presents was both important in Shipley's ability to stop comparing himself to others, a skill that had to be learned.

Shipley’s largest piece of advice, however? Talk to more people whom you don’t know. 

“Especially this year, as a senior, it’s really evident that everyone opens up, and there is this really cool dismantling of pre-existing friend groups,” said Shipley. “Not in the sense that everyone is together, but there feels like there’s less of a wall between people.”

With a more open community, Shipley has enjoyed interacting with many students he was previously only acquainted with. “If you’re not a senior, try to do that earlier,” he stated.

As seniors pass into their next stages of life, they carry with them more than the grades and scores they've earned along the way. Deceitful tricks, hard-earned wisdom, and a better sense of self have all been received. As they leave, the lessons they've learned will remain both at CGS and with the seniors themselves as they continue on their journey through life.