Remember Ring Around the Rosie? You know, that game you would always play at camp even though no one particularly loved it or understood what was going on half of the time? That game where no matter how pointless it seemed to be whipping yourself in circles, you would “fall down” and couldn’t help but stand back up and start the game over again with a smile on your face?

Not to make the metaphor painfully obvious, but we’re all playing one giant game of Ring Around the LT. Metaphorically holding each other’s hands to keep the game going, moving in a circular fashion in order not to disturb the social flow; dizzy from repeating the short song day after day…

But then we all fall down. Like the ironically endless cliché, everything must come to an end. This time, however, when us seniors get back up expecting to rejoin hands and play another round of the game after May 29, we’ll find ourselves feverish and sweating as we are forced to seek out new hands to join; new circles to twirl and laugh in as we scatter nervously to college.

When graduation day comes, it will be a fall for me. A terrifying fall from the euphoric haven of LT down to the cold, moldy ground of college dorm rooms. Of course, college has the potential to be one of the greatest journey’s of anyone’s life, but we cannot forget the seamless circle we came from. I owe LT credit to half of who I am as a person today (the other half being predetermined genetics). From soccer to LION to NHS to my amazing teachers over the years, joining the whirlpool of 4,000 students taught my peers and me the importance of being unique in a world of stagnation.

With hundreds of clubs, athletics, courses and resources, LT is a school of abundance in all forms of the word. An abundance of intellect, of school spirit, of humor, of respect, even stairs. It’s a giant circle of positivity, safely encompassing the student body and letting us figure out the pattern for ourselves.

So now, as we break the circle and move on to find new ones, I challenge you seniors to go out in the world, find your new twirling circle of adulthood, take hands with your future classmates and change the way the circle is moving. Go out and play, but change the game for the better. Go be the best you can possibly be as an individual and then bring your new circle of peers with you.

Ring Around the LT taught us the rules of the twisting game of intellect and excitement, so now let’s all go out into the world and teach the world how to play with us.