A Letter To My High School Seniors

Dear Seniors,

If I asked you to pick one word to describe your senior year and your high school career at large, I am guessing that most of you would say it was hard, or some other synonym of hard that denotes the rough, chaotic nature of these recent months and years of your education. Now here’s a little secret from me to you:

It has been hard for me, too.

Really hard. In my fourteen years teaching, these past three and a half years have been different and difficult. And, while one may say that all the issues in education now stem from the Covid lockdown of your early high school career, it seems like things should have begun to get better by now. For your sake and the sake of teachers across education everywhere, I am sad to say that things aren’t really better.

However.

And there is a “however,” because I am not a doomsday sayer by nature. Both as a teacher and personally, I do believe that change can happen and that God has us each here for a reason. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be a teacher; I would just quit and find something easier to do with my degrees. While things have been exponentially harder, the perseverance and resilience I see in you, my students, makes me confront my own. If you can persevere, so can I. And you are worth sticking around for.

As a teacher, I want to create a spark of hope. The world is really dark right now with a LOT of problems. It’s true. The interesting thing about darkness is that the light stands out all the brighter the darker it is. As Meister Eckhart explains, “Truly, it is in the darkness that one finds the light, so when we are in sorrow, then this light is nearest of all to us.” You will encounter more darkness and even experience sorrows as you age, but when you do, look for that light. It is always there waiting for you.

Before you enter that world, I have done everything I can in your senior year to give you another glimpse of hope, goodness, and a pathway of light to follow as you enter the world. I believe so fiercely in the passion, talents, and impact you will be bringing into this world as adults, and I desperately wanted your time in my classroom to not just be about learning the symbolism of The Scarlet Letter, the genre traits of literature, or the strategies for argumentative writing. More than that, I wanted you to see that there is always something worth saying, something worth doing, regardless of the darkness in the world.

Albus Dumbledore, in the film The Prisoner of Azkaban, famously encourages Harry Potter, saying, “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” I don’t know how much darkness you will encounter after high school, but I do know the light is out there. Look for that hope, pursue it, and spread it to others in this world through your God-given talents and calling.

I hope I have been that for you, and I believe with all my heart that you can be that for others. This is your gift to the world. You are THAT gift. You ARE a gift.

Now go and shine!

With love and faith,

Mrs. Frankovic

Your English Teacher Who Loves and Believes in You