As we are coming to a close on the school year, our graduating class of 2023 has graduated and are starting the next chapter of their lives. While the students and staff are sad to see them leave, we know they are destined for bigger and better things outside of ADM High School. Before they left, we asked seniors to give us their best tips and tricks about high school in order to share some wisdom with the underclassmen who will fill their roles.

In their final week of school, we asked members of the 2023 Senior class what activities they have been involved in throughout their high school careers. Senior Kyler Hegarty is a member of many associations and activities in the school. He said, “I’ve been involved in lots… cross country and track my freshman year, and then also the drama department, band, and jazz band, pep band, and marching band. Along with the drama department would be musicals, and then also I was in Academic Decathlon for a time. Then also Student Council and some other stuff I cannot remember at the moment.”

Another senior who has been a very active member of the school is Alexa Seidl. She said she was involved in “Volleyball, soccer, track, Speech, Student Council, NHS, Humanitarian Cord, Quill and Scroll, I think that’s it.”

Sam Holloway said, “I’ve been involved in football, baseball, wrestling, track, FFA, Student Council… that’s it.”

Avery Miller, who has been extremely involved in school activities, said she’s been in “All of them… volleyball, cheer, soccer, track, yearbook, Student Council, NHS, Speech, plays, Humanitarian Cord, Quill and Scroll, I think that’s it.” Miller also later recalled that she participated in choir.

The senior class has very clearly been very involved in many school-related activites throughout their high school careers. Seniors were also asked, “What is your biggest tip for underclassmen?” In response, Christian Madison said, “I’d say take as many DMACC classes as you can to try to get the college credit earlier.”

Geneva Timmerman said, “My biggest tip is probably to appreciate and get connected to your teachers. We are lucky to have fantastic teachers that truly care about us at our school and they work with us individually a ton and are willing to do that, so you know just use their time and don’t take them for granted.”

A tip to underclassmen that Kyler Hegarty wants everyone to know is, “Don’t really care too much about things if they are not important. Stressing over things that don’t matter is a bad idea in general.”

Finally, Lauren Case said, “I’d say like… I hear a lot of people getting bad grades freshman year and then senior year they’re like dang it, I should’ve taken it seriously. So I’d definitely say focus on your grades. Have fun but study.”

After sharing their biggest advice to underclassmen, the seniors were asked, “What is one activity you think everyone should participate in while in high school?” They had varying responses to this question due to their different activities and social groups.

John Hoben said, “I would say probably like some sort of leadership, so like student council, or FFA, or something like just so you can gain communication skills and leadership skills.”

Celia Kriefels focused on mock trial and said, “I think everyone should participate in mock trial. It was a lot of fun, we learned how to argue.”

Senior Thomas Nugent is known throughout the school for providing “hype videos” for differing athletic teams. He said,“I think everyone should just find something outside of class that they should do, that they like, something more creative. Everybody can play sports, and everybody has like in-school kind of things, but doing something outside of class that is kind of an independent study is always good I think.”

Bri McGee said, “Honestly probably Speech, I think Theater is fun as well but probably Speech just because you get outside of your comfort zone. Speech skills are something that’s important and you are going to take with you all of your life. Theater also helps with that, but yeah Speech.”

After giving their pitches about their favorite and most beneficial high school activities, the Seniors were asked about things they wish they knew or did sooner while in high school. Addi Banse shared her wisdom on this topic, when she said, “I would say DMACC classes, definitely taking them earlier cause I took them when I was an upperclassman and I wish I took a few more when I was an underclassman. I feel like I didn’t know as much so definitely don’t be afraid to ask about DMACC classes with your teachers.”

Taking a different route with her response, Kelsey Dalen said, “What I was going to major in in College, which obviously is… people are going to find that out for themselves at different times. But personally, I think it would’ve been helpful for me when planning my schedule. But you just gotta go with the flow and when you figure it out plan your schedule around that.”

Furthermore, Jake Alexander voiced his experiences through this tip: “If you don’t pay attention in class you get pretty far behind, Yeah I learned that pretty quick.”

Kendal Book shared an important life as well as high school-related tip: “I wish that I knew people were not paying attention to you. Like everyone is in some ways self-absorbed with themselves. So like just kind of being you, like participating in fun days cause it’ll be better.”

As seniors continue to reminisce about past high school experiences, they were each asked to share their best high school memory. Along with many other students, Justin Holm and Sam Holloway shared their memories of making football history. “I’d say making the dome my senior year, because we put a lot of hard work into it and it was kinda like a dream or goal of mine,” Holm said.

Hollway said,“Probably in football going to the dome this year, just being with my teammates, it was super fun to have that experience.”

Focusing more on academics, Ella Grossman shared her memories of past classes. She said, “I have to say it was my junior year chemistry class because I got to sit by both Jacob and Ryan the whole year, cause I had to tutor them practically the whole time. But it was the most fun I think I’ve ever had in a class.”

Becca Yanacheak said, “My best high school memory, there have been a lot of really good ones, I think my best high school memory was our last marching band performance it was mass band night so all the bands from the entire adm school district performed, and I sobbed my eyes out into my senior drum majors arms because I knew how much I would be missing them.”

After thinking back on their high school experiences, activities, memories, and downfalls, the final question that we asked seniors was “What is your biggest tip for your specified activity?”

Cross country runner Harrison Desmarias shared his tips for running: “Try as hard as you can, the better you do the more fun it is.”

NHS Chapter President Geneva Timmerman shared her advice about communication and having success in NHS: “I feel like communication is key, I feel like balancing and communicating with Miller and other teachers and stuff is just a huge thing for being NHS president. Also with that other people too, like I feel like you have to connect with people from all groups and just be open to all minds.”

Justin Holm said, “My biggest tip is to just work really hard, and get to know the coaches really well because at the end of the day, those are the guys that decide like who plays and who doesn’t.”

Finally, college-bound athlete Nicole Stork was asked about her tips for basketball and getting college coaches attention. She said, “I would say just work hard because if you’re working hard coaches see that, and they’ll reach out to you on anything. I didn’t really reach out to many coaches they reached out to me first, and oh just have fun high school is only four years so just have fun with it.”

These involved members of the school shared their best advice, memories, and past experiences. These seniors have played huge roles in the school culture, community, and social life. Geneva Timmerman summed up the overall thoughts about high school and the people you’ll meet along the way, memories you’ll make, and lessons you’ll learn is, when she said, “It’s truly gone by so fast.”