Melissa Rizzo, Editor-in-Chief
@mrizzo_courant
In the ephemeral corridors of adolescence, where time dances like a fleeting waltz, seniors stand on the precipice of a poignant rite of passage. As the remaining days of high school wane, hallways once filled with the smell of ink-stained notebooks, the resonance of roaring laughter, and the imprints of everlasting friendships, now echo with the cadence of impending farewells. During this bittersweet and uncertain time when emotions seem to ebb and flow, the single constant for most is a lingering air of nostalgia.
Intertwined with these final months of high school are a series of senior-specific tasks aimed to provide closure and prepare students for their next steps. One item on this semester-two-senior-to-do list includes downloading Google Drive accounts.
Once graduated, seniors’ Google accounts will be permanently deleted. In order to save work created during their K-12 education, students must either merge their school Google Drive with a personal account, or download their files to a hard drive.
Having an organized Google Drive is key to increasing the efficiency of this process, ensuring that only the important, meaningful, and useful documents are being transported. School Librarian Michelle Luhtala suggests that seniors begin the sifting-through and downloading process before they leave for internships.
What may seem like a dull and tedious task, depending on the approach, has the potential to harness the real positivity of nostalgia: social connectivity (Washington Post). Seniors can complete this exercise in one of two ways; alone and mechanically, or together with friends, using this as an opportunity to share everything from haikus written in the third grade to sophomore-year film projects with each other. In this way, seniors are reveling in reminiscence while creating new, lasting memories with their friends.
Completing this task in a group is key to not only enhancing its positivity but also to forging deeper connections with friends. While nostalgia can be a happy and personal experience, according to Optimist Performance, “positive shared experiences enhance our feelings of belonging, connectedness, and sense of meaning.”
A group ‘Google Drive Deep Dive’ would provide students with the ability to indulge in the reflective, connective, and positive experience of nostalgia in a lighthearted and palatable way. “Nostalgia is a feeling that can be easily triggered by all kinds of senses and emotions. A distinct scent, for example, might take you back to a particular moment in your life,” said School Psychologist Sandra Warkentin.
While reminiscing about the past can sometimes get a bad rap, it is important to distinguish constructive, cognitive reflection from being tethered to past experiences. “Looking back is learning. It gives us the opportunity to recognize what has made us successful and what hasn’t. We then have the ability to choose to do things differently, or replicate what went well,” said Ms. Warkentin.
Nostalgia can also act as a guide for seniors as they aim to maintain a sense of self while growing and transitioning away from high school. According to a study published by the Cognition and Emotion journal in 2021, “reminiscing about the past can help you feel connected to who you were in the past, who you are in the present, and who you will be in the future.”
Even though nostalgia can sometimes feel sad, it often carries more emotional positivity than is recognized. “Completing mindfulness activities that allow me to see, smell, and hear the memories I’ve experienced often makes me happy. Sometimes I think nostalgia is more happy than sad,” said Ms. Warkentin.
Seniors Alexa Saridakis and Elizabeth McLaughlin shared similar sentiments of both excitement and nervousness for graduation. “There’s definitely a mixture of positive and negative feelings and I know a lot of my friends feel the same way,” said Elizabeth.
The best way to cope with feelings of anxiousness at the prospect of graduating is to recognize that these emotions are normal. “You need to really enjoy the moments that you have here. It is normal to be scared and sad, all of those things are normal, and everyone is feeling it to some degree,” said Ms. Warkentin.
Major life transitions can be daunting, with a reported 62% of people having a fear of change, according to Forbes, but looking back and remembering advice senior Rubina Isfahani received her junior year is what has helped her prepare for graduation. “Whenever I feel scared about moving away to college I remember the quote that Mr. Miceli, my Physics teacher last year, told the graduating seniors; ‘the only thing that stays constant in your life is that it’s always changing,’” said Rubina.
