The End: Class of 2026

Elijah Brown, Writer | February 20, 2026

Crowd wearing graduation caps - Photo Courtesy of Associated Press

Every year of school leads to the big one: senior year. Some people were excited to graduate, even when they were freshman, while others are still nervous now. Despite these differences, they are all still seniors. This is the last year before the rest of their lives for the class of 2026.

To get a better idea on how the seniors of the year feel, I went around and asked a few of them their thoughts on their previous years in school as well as how they feel about the impending graduation.

The first interviewee was Carson High School senior Mia Tapia. When asked her thoughts on graduation, she responded, “I'm excited and nervous for the most part. I'm really excited to get out of here, but it's very bittersweet, I want to say, because, like, how often am I going to see you? How often are you, like, genuinely going to talk to the people that you've met throughout high school? Because, like, when you think about it and you've seen the people that have previously graduated, how often do you actually talk to them? It's really never. But, so, I feel like it's very bittersweet. It's very bittersweet because it's, like, you've grown with these people all throughout your years, especially if you've gone to schools previously with them. You're not going to see all these familiar faces… So you're really on your own.”

The second Carson High School interviewee was senior Stephanie Hernandez. She was asked if she thought her high school years were as she expected to be and her answer was, “Honestly, I expected more of myself when I was starting off as a freshman. I thought I was going to be like into more activities, but I feel like I really did like become more outgoing and that's something I was expecting because when I came into freshman year I was like a bit timid and shy and I was like, ‘Yo I kind of want to be like more outgoing like my friends’ and like that's something I was like that's one of my goals like it was to be more talkative. So, yes and no to some extent.”

Both were asked if they had any advice for freshmen in their upcoming years. Mia said, “I say cherish your friendships. Try not to get involved with drama because it can really set you back in the long run, especially, like, if it's within, like, friend groups. Don't procrastinate. That's probably, like, the one thing that everyone says. It's like, just don't procrastinate because then everything's going to catch up and then it's going to run you over. And then, like, sooner or later, it's going to be like, oh, you have a final. The semester's over. There's nothing else you can do. But really cherish your friendships. Those are really important to have. Have people you can talk to.”

To the same question, Stephanie answered, “Take any opportunity you see. So if you see a flyer that says, ‘Oh we help kids be better at this subject’ and it's a subject you're really interested in, I feel like it's good to take those opportunities because that's something I didn't do. Like, I had the opportunity to be a peer counselor, but I was just lazy. I was like ‘Oh I don't want to do this stuff.’ Like, ‘It's too much work,’ but I feel like that would’ve helped me better, like to get into a better college, because now I'm just going to do community college because I want to catch up. But I feel like any opportunity, even ingenuity, is a good opportunity for students.”

If there are any freshmen reading this article, then there can be things to learn from your upperclassmen.

Graduation might be bittersweet, but there is a lot of growth that has happened over the past four years and there are things people are glad they did or wish they did differently. High school is a unique experience for everybody.