Carleigh Conners

From freshman year walking into the cafeteria, with faces I have never seen before… to five days left with only half the kids I started high school with, this past year was not the way I and millions of others thought their senior year would go. This was not the plan, going to school every other day, with only half our grade, no more fun lunch tables, and no more cramped hallways or uncomfortably packed pep-rallies. 

Goodbye to countless traffic jams in the small hallway between the library and the chapel. Goodbye to the speed walking as I try to get from the third floor odds to the fourth floor evens. Goodbye to rushing to get out of the building so I don’t have to wait in the long line of cars after school. Goodbye to lunch with my best friends. Goodbye to all the teachers. Goodbye to the call slips. Goodbye to after school lacrosse games. Goodbye to nail biting basketball games and football homecoming losses. Goodbye to field hockey’s ups and downs, tears, smiles, laughs, dances, long bus rides home, team dinners, the early and late practices. Goodbye to the team, coaches, and friends who have supported me since day one of freshman year preseason.

Even throughout the countless injuries, scars, and bruises, the wins and the heartbreaking overtime losses… Carroll field hockey has been there to pick me back up and push me to be a better player on and off the field,  through the amazing wins, blowing out O’Hara 5-0 this past season, winning the PCL sophomore year, and the overtime wins against Prendie and Phoenixville. The teachers wished my teammates and I luck in the hallways on a game day, the Instagram posts showed support, and the plaque hung in the hallway as motivation to stay hungry. Thank you to the parents and teachers for always supporting my team and me every season.

The very crazy, amusing, and sometimes tedious and extraordinary humid days at Carroll I will miss more than ever. 

So now, we pull our cars into Carroll as students just five more times  before we get handed our diplomas. After this mess of a year of us beginning as juniors turning into seniors and then finally into alumni, it’s been a long stressful time. So: goodbye, Archbishop Carroll. You will forever be a part of my heart and the memories I made at this school, I will hold forever.

To conclude this quickly written goodbye to high school and probably my last assignment for Mrs. Gimpel, I want to thank my parents if they are reading this. You guys are my rock, my everything, my biggest supporters, and the people who shaped me into the girl I am today… graduating high school, your youngest child (and the last to graduate from Carroll). Thank you for everything you have done for me since as far back as I can remember and for the immense amount of love and care you have given me. 

P.S. Mrs. Gimpel, thank you for occasionally throwing me out of class and thank you for never writing me up when I “go to the bathroom” but I’m actually going to visit Mrs. Volpe’s room.