As the year wraps up, the class of 2019 looks back to remember moments from Mr. Rohlinger, Fr. Ray, and other figure who have impacted their final year at St. Robert. The class has had many exciting moments this year while also having the opportunity to look forward to a new chapter of their lives and education at high school. One 8th grader, Joe, and I look back on our final year as St. Robert students.

Joe has been at the school since K5, 9 years, and has enjoyed his time here by hanging out with friends, playing sports, and growing a lot each year. This year he particularly loved his classes with the long-term Math substitute, Mr. Rohlinger as he was Joe’s favorite teacher. He enjoyed class activities ranging from Kahoots to daily Bible passages, to light-hearted classroom conversation. Joe also loves sports, especially basketball as he sees how much our team has grown from previous years – however, from being the worst team to being invited to the Padre though we didn’t do well on the big stage. Although he has many fun memories from this school, he also has memories he’d rather leave behind — like writing rigorous English papers continuously for 3 straight years.

However, now that he is finishing up the year, he will miss the small size of the school as he moves onto the much larger class sizes found at Marquette University High School along with his fellow classmates, who view themselves as the “top dogs” of the school this 8th grade year. Joe has had a fun 8th grade year, but believes he is ready for high school at Marquette as he states, “[MUHS, for] me, it seems like the best fit. It has good academics, sports, and will be challenging.” Lastly, he hopes he is ready for the more challenging courses and will not get lost in the building as he tries to find his classes.

Now from my perspective, I’ve been here since K5 just like Joe, and this year has been a roller coaster because there is something new and exciting happening everyday. My best memories from this year have been our combined English classes of Mr. Kierzek’s and Ms. Schulz’s homerooms with Mr. Brehm since the class is more light-hearted when we are joined together, but Mr. Brehm is also more prone to frustration at these moments as there are more class clowns joking around and creating an atmosphere of off-task excitement. I also enjoyed our schools theatrical production of Alice in Wonderland because it was my last show at St. Robert and had many memorable moments. While Joe’s least favorite memory was writing English papers as a whole, I have grown to disliking analyzing Literature in formal CDWs.

Although I have had a collection of good and bad memories, I am ready to move on to a fresh start at Dominican High School. As Joe goes to Marquette, I go to Dominican for their sports and academics. I don’t worry about whether I’m ready for Dominican — it is more a question if Dominican is ready for me.

Overall, Joe and I have had a great stint at St. Robert, and I hope we both do well at our respective high schools, and my other classmates do well too as they move forward. Although our class is probably the smallest 8th grade class in recent years, we still have, hopefully, made a significant and positive impact on the students, teachers, and school. Finally, even though everyone is going on their own paths next year, no matter where we find ourselves, we are still always going to be Bobcats.