Seniors and their families gathered on the Ted Slavin field Sunday for the annual Senior Ring Ceremony. Each senior was given a ring or a pin, as well as flower crowns and boutonnieres, to represent school spirit and class pride.

Senior Prefects Jason Thompson ’22, Hailey Hubbard ’22, Jack Coleman ’22 and Joy Ho ’22 gave speeches to celebrate the growth of the senior class over their high school years and what the ceremony and school meant to the class of 2022.

Ho spoke about the class’s journey throughout their six years together and followed the annual tradition of assigning the class a superlative to summarize their experience.

“We are guinea pigs,” Ho said. “Yes, the Class of 2022 is the guinea pigs class, because who did the administration go to when they needed to test out the new block schedule? The Class of 2022. Who did they look to when introducing unweighted GPAs? The Class of 2022. And who did they rely on when introducing AP limits? The Class of 2022. That’s who the administration put their faith in.”

Coleman spoke to students about the school’s motto and how it influences their actions in their final year at the school.

“We’re seniors now, after all, that’s exactly what we’re here celebrating today,” Coleman said. “With that comes amazing opportunities and exciting new frontiers, but also more responsibility. As the oldest kids on campus, we’ve been through the most, we know that this school can be hard, and that sometimes it can cause us to give up on our goals. But we also know how to thrive here. We know how to believe in one another. We’ve got one more year left, and we can really make a difference.”

The ceremony also featured a performance by the Jazz Singers, the school’s jazz ensemble made up of 12 members of Chamber Singers.

Following the Prefect speeches and Jazz Singers, seniors proceeded to receive their senior ring or pin from Head of Upper School Beth Slattery. President Rick Commons called students’ names as they shook hands with Associate Head of School Laura Ross and made their way across the track.

After all of the seniors received their ring or pin, English teacher Jocelyn Medawar, who was elected by the senior class to speak to them, delivered direct remarks of advice to the class.

“I urge you to be open to everything. The fear, the heartbreak, the exhilaration, even the darn tedium, be open to it,” Medawar said. “Be bendy and adaptable. If we’ve learned anything this past year, we’ve learned that rigid adherence to some preconceived idea of how life is supposed to go is probably going to leave us without the elastic quality we need to respond to the unexpected. Even on days when they’re hard to find, I hope you can see your own wonder and curiosity patiently waiting in the corner for you. Trust that you’ll move through the hard stuff and remember that victory’s fist pumping moments in life are as fleeting as the fist pounding ones.”