As the end of the year approaches, staff members and students alike are feeling a mix of emotions. Excitement for the beginning of summer, sadness for leaving friends and teachers for a few months and stress toward end-of-year testing and events.
College and career counselor Kaitlyn Nolan doesn’t have time to stress, as she is constantly on the go during the last few months of school, working to ensure that students have everything they need before school lets out.
“You don’t even have time to think,” Nolan said. “We are just going from one thing to the next and prepping for one thing to the next. So, it’s not even– like you can’t even take a moment to stop and think about it.”
Assistant principal Patrick Moore was given the responsibility of overseeing the first Memorial High School graduation this year.
“There is a lot of pressure, especially as we get closer to graduation,” Moore said. “With timelines, notifications as far as class ranks and notifying the valedictorian and salutatorian, the top graduates, it puts a bit of a time constraint on planning graduation, which can be stressful.”
Nolan has years worth of experience when it comes to dealing with the stress of the end of the year, previously working as the college and career counselor at Hirschi High School.
“I work through all the scholarship stuff and scholar banquet stuff,” Nolan said. “I’m kind of like the middle man getting everything set up between Memorial and the Ed Center downtown. I take part in really making sure that it’s a good end of the school year and a good end to seniors’ high school career as well.”
Moore is also used to dealing with the stress this time of year brings, previously serving as one of the assistant principals at Wichita Falls High School. However, this is his first year overseeing graduation.
“We want to make graduation a memorable experience,” Moore said. “We want to make sure that whatever product we put out is good. We don’t want things to feel rushed together or not fully done.”
Both Moore and Nolan are looking forward to the first Memorial High School graduation. With less than 30 days left till the last day of school, the two are wanting to urge everyone to make the most of these last few weeks.
“We want to honor students and give them the recognition they deserve,” Nolan said. “After graduation, it’s really over, we have a little relief, but now it’s summertime and our seniors are off into the real world.”
