The Class of 2016

One of the GPS traditions I love the most is the posting of the Where O' Where's, otherwise known as the list of colleges that our seniors will attend. For some reason, once that list goes up, it suddenly seems real to the girls and to us.  Next fall the Class of 2016 will head off to some familiar schools like Tennessee, Georgia, Rhodes, Sewanee and Georgia Tech, but some of them will continue their education farther away, places like Santa Clara, Tulsa, and Evergreen State.

I read once that something strange happens to a graduating class as they are pulled in many different directions: friends move on and memories fade. But I've never found that to be true for GPS girls. For most, the friendships they have formed here last them a lifetime.  Our girls keep up these long-distance relationships and long after they graduate and start the next chapter of their lives, they remember Mr. Wells' rant in senior English, the AP Euro exam question about Dutch shipping, or the time they played "kick the shoe," and their shoes got stuck on the scoreboard.

Truth be told, I'm a little envious.  The Class of 2016 has received an amazing education (I really do believe I would have been a good math student had I attended GPS), and they will forever be connected by the friendships and they have formed and the experiences they have had.

It's an impressive group, the Class of '16.  I cannot wait to see what happens next.