A crowd of students stood outside State High on Wednesday morning, buzzing with excitement as everyone waited for their buses to pull up for the final time this year.
Students laughed, joked, hugged, and took selfies. In every direction were students saying their goodbyes and wishing each a happy summer – and then a booming voice cut through the crowd.
“Time to leave!” shouted a school employee, grinning from ear to ear. “Time to go home!”
For sophomore Rajkaran Singh, that was all he needed to hear. For the past few weeks, Singh and his classmates have been caught in a whirlwind of last-minute lessons and final exams – but the next few months promise nothing of the sort.
“It just feels really relaxing,” Singh says. “We’ve had a lot to do, and it’s been pretty stressful, but it’s exciting to have all that over.”
Singh is excited for a few sunny months of football camps and visits back to his homeland in India, where he’ll see his extended family for only the second time since he moved to State College nearly six years ago.
But at the same time, Singh says the end of the school year is bittersweet. Next year he’ll be an upperclassman at the north building, meaning he’ll be separated from many of the friends he’s seen on a daily basis in the south building.
Freshman Sam Schneider, much like Singh, also says the last day of school is tinged with melancholy.
“It feels very sudden,” Schneider says. “This whole time I wanted school to be over, but now that it’s here it feels kind of strange.”
As a member of the marching band, Schneider became friends with a number of seniors who are moving on to college next year. Although he’s sad he won’t get to see them anymore, he’s also glad that he had the chance to get to know them in the first place.
Leah Henderson celebrated her final day at Mount Nittany Middle School on Wednesday. Although she’s looking forward to an exciting summer she says that her final day of eighth grade was a weird experience.
“Knowing that this was my last year in middle school, I really tried to take in as much as could and enjoy it, but it all went by so fast,” Henderson says.
Henderson has plenty to look forward to, including starting high school next year and an upcoming trip to Orlando in June to compete in the AAU national volleyball competition.
But despite all that, she can’t help but feel nostalgic for the things she’s leaving behind.
“It’s a little sad actually,” Henderson says. “I’ve been really lucky to grow up here. This school is really great, but I guess I’m moving on.”
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