Last spring, the Senior Commons was a thing of my imagination. Sure, we had gotten the idea passed by administration and Student Council was working out the details, but would it actually happen? What would it look like? Would people even go inside of it?

When I arrived in the fall, I was astonished. The once drag, dirty and honestly disgusting Upper School commons had transformed with perhaps the greatest glow up of 2016. You could see the bottom of the long table. The printers WORKED! There were more couches and general seating areas. No one was hoarding their stuff in the study rooms. Mr. Kramer donated his Keurig. We had a fridge. We had Ms. Calhoun. Life was good. It seemed better than my own bedroom. But how long would this last?

Now that it is the middle of November, I can honestly say that my senior year has been altered by the Senior Commons. I have done anything possible in there. When I am tired, I sleep on the couch with a blanket. If I want to get down to business, I plug in my headphones and work at the table. When I want to relax and veg, I sit down on the couches and talk to anyone in there.

Aside from offering seniors an AWESOME place to study/sleep/chat, the senior commons has transformed the class of 2017. This common space has brought unity. During the first few weeks of school, it was a great place to catch up with people that you hadn’t seen all summer or ask Ms. Calhoun a uniform question. During the tough weeks of early apps, it was a great place to work on an essay or just vent to the other 119 ROCKSTARS in the class of 2017. On Halloween, it became our headquarters and so dirty that you could not see the floor. On Friday mornings, I couldn’t think of a better place to dance to the Cotton Eyed Joe.

As we go deeper in the year, I can only tell that it is going to bring us closer. It is a space for us to laugh, cry, converse, scream and share in. Without the commons, we would not be the same Class of 2017!!!

Mary Claire Wilson – Sports and Health Editor