Since freshman year, I’ve wanted to sit in the front row of the theater during gathering and throw my legs up on the stage like I run this place. It always felt like there was a spotlight on seniors in the front. I wanted to welcome freshmen during the boathouse jacket ceremony, and I wanted to pretend that school was a dance party on revisit days. I wanted to stand front row at the DePaul games, finally watching all of my friends on the court. I wanted to bug people to respond to my AP Stats survey, and I wanted to be the obnoxious second semester senior playing music and yelling to my buddies across the learning commons. I never once imagined being stuck in Zoom classes and wearing masks during our senior year, but here we are, and we’ve done a hell of a job doing it.
One of my first memories from Latin was during a freshman-year grade level meeting. We were in the old library, and that’s about all the context I can provide, because I truly don’t remember much. But what I do remember is that Mr. Tebbens was not happy. Not happy at all. He yelled something about how our grade had a terrible reputation and teachers hated us. I really don’t remember what sparked that conversation, and at this point I hope it doesn’t matter. All I know is we made sure we weren’t yelled at like that again.
As sophomores we tried to distance ourselves from freshmen, proving to upperclassmen we were mature. By junior year, we genuinely found freshmen annoying. They clogged the hallways, left their locker bays dirty, and seemed to forget they were the youngest members of the high school. That’s probably why we got yelled at.
But I’d give a lot to have the opportunity to walk the halls with the annoying, probably smelly, shy freshmen. Aside from the big events our class missed out on (junior prom, first day of senior year, senior homecoming, class pictures, DePaul games, etc….) the little things like making friends with freshmen are so vital to the Latin experience. For me, some of my closest friends at Latin weren’t even in my grade, but rather people I met from baseball, or Jessie’s office, or Roman2Roman.
Our grade has missed out on a lot. I am willing to argue with anyone that the high school class of 2021 had it worse than any other grade of our generation. We all applied to college and finished high school in the midst of a pandemic. But if we all leave high school feeling sorry for ourselves that we missed out on a senior year, we didn’t do high school right.
We have to remember all the good we did as a group. For heaven’s sake, it felt like we won every pep rally competition. Every grade should think about the good in each moment, because you truly never know when your last day of a normal high school experience will be. So juniors: be leaders in the school next year. Be the big scary seniors freshmen see you as, but remember it’s a privilege to do so. Sophomores, you’re going to be looked up to within the student body. You haven’t even had a full normal year of high school, and now you’re going to have upperclassmen status. Use it as an honor. And finally, freshmen: bear with all the shenanigans you may deal with from upperclassmen because one day, those seats in the front will be yours.
Latin is a place of privilege, and if I could do it all again, I would treat everyday like I’m fortunate to be there. As Ferris Bueller once said, “if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

To the class of 2021, my teachers, faculty and other students—thank you. It was a blast.

All the love,
Eli Aronson