On May 22, the CHS class of 2025 completed their final day of classes. After four years of hard work, challenges overcome and accomplishments achieved, the senior class joined together for a day of celebration.
The festivities began when forums gathered during lunch to acknowledge their seniors’ achievements with one final meal, letters, songs or gifts of appreciation and final hugs and goodbyes. The day of celebration continued into the afternoon.
At 2 p.m., right after their last class got out, the class of 2025 gathered in the Craft Theater to celebrate their last moments together before graduation. Candles were displayed on a table at the front of the theater as seniors filed into their seats beside their forummettes in preparation for graduation day. Assistant Dean Rebecca Westrate began the annual event by giving a speech to the graduating class, which was focused on a reflection of their time at Community and a commemoration of their accomplishments.
“On your very last day of classes today, we would like to invite you to take a few minutes to pause with us for a reflection, a reflection on the lessons you have learned together over the last four years,” Westrate said. “Today may be a day when you recognize a little fear, or at least a little trepidation about the next steps, but today we close the circle together.”
Near the end of her speech, Westrate invited every senior to take a candle off of the table at the front of the room. She explained that the light signifies the work everyone has done in each senior’s life to support them and bring them to this point of transformation. She added that the light represents the place that will always be here for them at Community.
“This is a new role for you, leaving behind the last official vestiges of childhood for a new you in a wider and really an ever more demanding world,” Westrate said.
To mark the beginning of a whole new chapter, each senior was instructed to blow out the candle in their hands whenever they were ready. Ready to embark on a journey and turn the page. As each light slowly extinguished, the doors of the Craft Theater opened, allowing the bright light of May to illuminate the dark room.
Seniors rushed to the front lawn, where they were met with white rainbow zebra shirts and packets in every color of the rainbow. Once assembled in a circle on the front lawn, the class was given a passion-filled speech by Dean Marci Tuzinsky, and the countdown began.
Three…two…one…Shades of blue, red, pink, yellow and green filled the sky above Community High School. Cheers rang from the seniors huddled together under a cloud of color, and screams of laughter ensued as color continued to rain down. Friends chased each other with hands outstretched, revealing fresh powder to be dumped.
As the dust cleared, seniors covered in each hue celebrated with hugs, ice cream and pictures. After sprinting to boxes filled with colored markers, the class formed chains across the front lawn, each senior leaving their signature on the others’ backs.
“My first thought was, ‘Wow, I’m going to miss these people,’” said senior Jacqueline Boynton. “Last year, when we were taking pictures at Senior Celebration, I thought, ‘no way that’s going to be me next year’— and now it is.”
Covered in color, senior Charlotte Quinn reflected on her experience closing her high school career with such a bright and beautiful CHS tradition. She described the end of her CHS chapter as bittersweet — excited to grow, yet finding it difficult to leave.
“My lungs are definitely a little upset with me right now, but my heart is full, so it’s all good,” Quinn said.
After an afternoon full of bright colors and flavorful ice cream, the Class of 2025 walked out of CHS after completing their final high school classes, leaving behind the building they had grown up in and built so many memories in.
