The Phenomenon: Graduation Goggles

For the past 4 years, we have been trying to get out of school. I mean, who likes school? Now that the seniors are finally done with school… a part of us wishes that it did not come yet even though we know the end of our lives at AISG is inevitable. Do not be fooled. This is a common occurrence called graduation goggles when something nears its completion. According to Urban Dictionary, the definition of graduation goggles is the relief and nostalgic feeling one has about a time in their life when it is about to end, even if the time was completely miserable.

After three near death situations for students and teachers during China trips, we seriously wondered if we were cursed. From falling off cliffs to bike accidents, all the unexpected happened. There was a moment when I wondered if everyone was going to make it to the end alive. And some of us still wonder if we will mentally make it out of the IB exams. If you’re looking for a miracle, go to Jake Kim. Despite not reading most of the assigned books, he managed to do surprisingly well on the Lang and Lit mock exams.

On top of all that nonsense, the school deprives us of a basic human need, food. Everyday after second block ends, we have to wait before we can eat water disguised as food. Even during our last week of school, seniors Eileen Qiu and Punya Bhargava were stopped when they were trying to sneak into the cafeteria during middle school lunch by the iron clad of cafeteria guards including Mr. Tragert, Mr. Parker and Mr. Webster. To add to the tragedy, Mr. Tragert even said, “We don’t play favourites.”

Despite being forced to wait for the bad cafeteria food, the difficult situations or people and the overwhelming stress levels of IB, we will always remember the good memories. Think about the amazing senior prank, Mr. Seiple’s cookies, Ms. Barga’s jokes, the Spiderman jokes and Mr. Duncan’s cheesy quotes. The class of 2017 definitely ended with a bang from the awesome senior dance to the over the top senior pranks.

I think I will wear my graduation goggles a little longer…at least before reality in the form of IB exams rips them off.