Monday was the beginning of the end for seniors at Hayes High School as they started their last semester as students in the Delaware City School District.
With graduation a little more than five months away, students said they were excited and a little sad to see their time in high school coming to an end.
“It’s kind of surreal,” said Mary Grace Duffy, a senior. “These four years at Hayes have flown by. My whole academic career at Delaware City Schools has flown by. Being a sentimental person, it’s bittersweet.”
Duffy, who serves as the student representative on the Delaware City Schools Board of Education, said she’s excited for college, but she’ll always miss Hayes.
“I’m excited about being accepted into a college and looking forward to whatever may come with college,” she said. “But here I’m leaving behind a part of me, because I’ve grown up in this community. My family is here, and it’s a place I can always return to.”
Duffy added she will be studying environmental studies and studio art at the College of Wooster in the fall, and she is looking forward to her final months of classes and graduation.
Senior Laquans Banks said he has mixed feelings on the upcoming end of the school year.
“I’m kind of excited and sad,” he said. “I made a lot of friends here, and I’m not ready to go.”
Banks said he’ll be studying chemistry at Kent State University in the fall, adding he’s going to enjoy his last few months at Hayes.
“I’m going to miss meeting new people and seeing all my friends all the time,” he said. “I’m excited for track season, because it’s the last sport I’ll play here.”
Fellow senior Emily Ruen said the previous semester was over before she knew it.
“It flew by like crazy,” she said. “I feel like I still remember all my freshman year classes. People said the year would fly by and it has.”
Ruen added as excited as she is to graduate, she’ll miss the people at Hayes.
“It’s crazy that it’s my last 18 weeks here, then we are all splitting up,” Ruen said. “I’ll miss the environment at Hayes. There’s so many people that care about each other. Everyone is so involved here and makes everyone feel like they fit in. But I’m excited to see where all my friends go to college and what they do after that.”
Ruen said she’ll be studying education at Bowling Green State University in the fall.
Colby Cooper said he’s looking forward to graduation the most.
“I’m excited,” he said. “Once I graduate, I’ll be sad, but I’m excited to go to the next level. I’m excited to have my favorite teacher, (physical science teacher) Keith Butts, give me my diploma.”
Cooper said he’ll be studying aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati.
“It’s hard, but I like it,” he said of his planned career path.
As for his friends at Hayes, Cooper said, “I’m going to miss the people and seeing everyone almost every day. We are going to split paths. I’ll miss everybody.”
