Insights from the Class of 2024

By Vishaka Priyan ‘26

As our senior class prepares to embark on their journey beyond our school walls, I've seized the opportunity to gain insights from these soon-to-be graduates, seeking out their most valuable pieces of advice. Below are the pearls of wisdom offered by our seniors, from the most cliche to the most practical.

Cliches

Despite their often-dismissed cliche status, upon deeper examination, perhaps there is a reason why phrases like “get out of your comfort zone” and “just be yourself” are constantly repeated.

Much of the cliche advice was about friendship and connections.

In the words of senior Carter Alfrey, “Enjoy your time, savor it. Keep connections, and make connections.” Even though high school can be hectic and busy, relationships should still be nurtured and savored.

“Surround yourself with people who make you feel good about yourself and like you for who you are,” said Olivia Morisson, emphasizing the importance of focusing on good friendships.

Practical Tips

There were also some more practical tips that might save you both time and stress.

At Catlin Gabel, you are required to take a variety of courses in order to graduate, and although people go about getting their credits many different ways, one anonymous senior recommends that you should, “Get your arts and P.E. credits out of the way freshman year.”

This sentiment was echoed by senior Claire Druker who got all her art and PE credits done by sophomore year, “It has been nice because I have been able to take more classes I want like the Palma seminar.”

While this isn’t possible for everyone, it seems that the earlier you get credits like these out of the way, the more flexible your schedule becomes.

Lewis Anderson provided another tip for further down the road about college applications. “Don’t procrastinate your college app process,” he said, “do as much as you can over the summer because senior year is hard enough without having to write all your supplemental essays.”

Although the last thing you might want to do the summer after junior year is to spend your August writing supplemental college essays, frontloading this work might make college app season a little less stressful.

Hard Pills to Swallow

The seniors also gave pieces of advice that might be a little harder to hear.

“Take everything more seriously so you can set up your life better,” emphasized senior Naveen Nallakrishnan, offering a sobering perspective. Nallakrishnan spent his high school summers working jobs and doing extra-curricular activities that helped him decide what he wanted to study in college.

He recommends that other high schoolers do the same because, “colleges care a lot about demonstrated interest in the field of study you like.” He attributed this extra work as the reason he got into Cornell University, his dream school. Even though this extra effort made it harder to make plans with friends, he saw it as a worthwhile tradeoff.

Druker offered another more high school focused piece of advice, “Allow your classmates to change in high school.”

She said that a big struggle at a small school like Catlin Gabel School (CGS) is that people are often tied to who they used to be, whether that is who they were in freshman year or even in elementary school.

But as Druker points out, people change, and she advises that, “everyone should be more willing to reach out to new and old people.”

So as you go through high school, try to give others the grace to change, and be open to getting to know the new sides that they may show you.

So, as we say goodbye to our class of 2024, let’s carry forward their cliche advice, practical tips, and maybe think a little bit about some of the tougher truths.