The signs that read “30 DAYS” were put up 25 days ago now, and the 2017 school year is coming to an end. Whitney Young is our home that we won’t have to pay rocketing rates on as the West Loop becomes more commercialized and modern. Some parts of our life at school—the mice, trash, dress codes, detentions, work—will receive a good riddance and a smile as we walk away. But, at some point next year, I will hear a voice on a microphone calling out “Order #47” and will think of Dr. Kenner yelling her announcements as the proudest principal in the world. Goodbye, Whitney Young, you will be missed.

I am a Whitney Young senior who has attempted to make his mark in the halls of our school. Whitney Young has taught me how electric current can be sparked without a battery and how to find a line of intersecting planes. Whitney Young has also taught me how to be a student, friend, intellectual, goofball, and leader. It is not definite which is more important, and the greatness of Whitney Young comes from its non-specialization. I will miss Whitney Young, the teachers who were proud to teach me, the kids who were proud to be my friend, the runners who were proud to be my teammate, and the students who were proud to be here.

There are different things being said during our penultimate week here. Maggie Browdy is screaming “Goodbye haters!” and Mr. Peter Tavolacci is promising that he “will cry as [he] watch[es]” and that he “would give [us] a hug if it wasn’t so weird to do in front of the whole graduation crowd.”

I want to extend my thanks to Whitney Young and everyone who made my high school experience so special. We will never be the same without it, and it will never be the same without us.