From learning how to open a locker to sneaking away to take a quick dip in the pool the lessons learned at school are not all learned from textbooks and teachers. Seniors planning to graduate in a few short months reflect on what they wish they had known when they had first walked through the doors of Free State.

Chris Meutz: “I wish I would have known that you really don’t have to work that hard to get good grades, because at this school it’s mainly just task completion instead of knowledge retention.”

Jessica Devlin: “Don’t be afraid to take up teachers when they offer to help you before or after class, especially right before a test. Go in during seminar or before or after school. It’s a lot more helpful to talk to them one on one because you can really pinpoint where you’re struggling.”

Rachel Williams: “How to open my locker.”

Felix Sommerville: “I wish I would have known that if you are clever enough you can go swim in the pool during seminar if you don’t get caught.”

Preston Newsome: “Be as involved as possible, because you get to know people and you’re more involved in the school. I think more comes out of being involved in a wide variety of things and the whole high school experience is just better.”

Emma Cormack: “I wish I would have known I could take photo classes over and over again.”

Alec Fitzgerald: “I wish I would have known who the best teachers are so I could have chosen my classes accordingly.”

Keenan McCauley: “I probably would have had more fun in classes as opposed to taking harder classes; I would have taken more art classes.”

WHAT IS YOUR FUNNIEST/CRAZIEST MEMORY FROM YOUR TIME AT FS?

Chris Meutz: “Wearing the same shirt as Bailey Schaumburg at lunch. That was beautiful.”

Jessica Devlin: “I was on a field trip with orchestra and the orchestra teacher forgot to excuse us all from the trip so the entire orchestra was called down to the office at the same time and questioned about what we were doing during that hour.”

Felix Sommeriville: “On the last day of school sophomore year I was called into the police officer’s room and interrogated because apparently I was the main suspect in wallet thefts that had been occuring. Their evidence was that they saw me on video going to the bathroom because my friend was choking. That was all their evidence but I was interrogated and missed my finals.”

Preston Newsome: “During my sophomore year my brother and I were at a home basketball game and we found this comb in the top row of the student section. We were throwing it at one of the students in front of us and it bounced off of his shoulder and flew onto the court. Everybody stopped and looked at us which was kind of crazy and embarrassing at the same time. I’ve also fallen down the stairs a couple times.”

Keenan McCauley: “The lip dub. The swimming scene was pretty tight, and the fact that we got out of class for something the whole school would participate in was sweet.”

MR. ELLIS’S ADVICE:

“Properly invest so you can get your money immediately and start earning something right when you’re out of high school. I was 24 or 25 before I figured out how to properly invest and get a bigger return so I could retire earlier; if I would have known that in high school I would be much better off right now.”