Dear Class of 2012,

By the time you’re reading this, you’ll be at the top of the food chain at Wayland High School.

You’ll be the big guys on campus, the big fish in the sea.

High school is, in fact, like the ocean. There are so many choices (currents) to delve into and so many groups (schools of fish) to join. Like the ocean, high school is a big hypothetical food chain, with the seniors at the top and the freshmen at the bottom.

To start off our metaphor, we have the freshmen. Freshmen are oysters because when they first enter high school, they’re shy and tend to stick to their own grade and friends. They are still testing out where they fit in and what groups they want to join.

Despite their tendency to be a little closed off to the rest of the student body, they have the opportunity to bring something special and new (a pearl) to sports teams, music groups or clubs. Whether or not they’ll be cultured pearls is another story.

Moving on, we have the sophomores, the clown fish. Sophomore year is awkward no matter how you look at it. Sophomores are not yet considered upperclassmen but they’re no longer the youngest. They have their “designated” groups, but it’s a tough year to develop.

Juniors are the sand sharks. I know, I know, you probably wanted to be something cool like a hammer shark or a tiger shark, but no.

There is a reason for this, I swear! Many people, like myself, are terrified of sharks. After watching Jaws for the first time, being eaten by a shark became one of my biggest fears (no matter how statistically unlikely it might be). Since this fear is widely shared, it comes as no surprise that many people are scared of sand sharks.

The truth of the matter is that sand sharks are harmless. They are just associated with fear because of the second part of their name: shark. That’s what juniors represent.

Junior year is the most important year of high school. It’s when people start freaking out about grades and colleges and SATs etc., etc. Many people fear juniors because they seem overworked and over-fatigued, but in reality, juniors are harmless. They’re just trying to survive the worst year of high school.

Finally, we have the seniors. I may be a little biased (or a lot, depending on how you look at it), but I am going to say that seniors are whales. And not just any whales: humpback whales. This is because they carry the most power and are the biggest mammals of the sea. Humpback whales can swim around the ocean and float through life. Not many creatures are going to challenge a whale.

Seniors are like humpback whales because we just drift through our senior year (especially the second semester). Like the whales, we are the “big men on campus.”

We’re going to leave my analogy, for now, to talk about some advice that I have for you incoming seniors.

The first pointer that I would like to give you is to be as disruptive as possible. Show up to class late, run and scream during passing time and make sure to push freshmen out of your way when you walk. Don’t let anything bring you down or hinder your fun! (Dog allergies? Who cares!)

Next piece of advice: be on campus as little as possible.

It’s senior tradition that when you don’t have to be in school, you shouldn’t be. Make sure to hit up the regular spots like Boloco and Chipotle (and Ben and Jerry’s for a treat afterwards). Come back to school and bring a souvenir from wherever you went to show underclassmen that you really are at the top of the food chain.

My last bit of advice would be that you definitely need to drive to school every day. I’ve seen the parking situation next year and it looks really rough. But don’t worry about it, because every single person should, and can, drive and partake in a little game of musical parking spots!

It’s a lot of fun; we played every day in the senior parking lot this year.

Okay, okay, I’m totally joking and I hope that everyone knows that. Please do not harass the underclassmen or make parking a miserable experience for everyone. I would, though, still advise you to go out as much as possible because it’s a lot of fun.

In all seriousness, juniors, be good role models to the underclassmen. You’re going to be the ones they look up to; the ones they want to be. I know that a lot of people think that’s a myth, but it really is true. Seniors set the example, especially for the incoming freshmen class.

You’re at the top, but don’t let it go to your head. Do something good so, even though we’re technically different species (or, realistically at separate points in our lives), we can coexist.

Good luck ‘12!

Sincerely,
Marissa Daftary