The Class of 2022 has officially graduated, ending the high school careers of the 309 graduates.

This highly anticipated day marks our equally exciting and intimidating venture into the real world — if we can call it that. So much of high school is spent discussing building students  up to be ready for the real world, leaving many of us like Rapunzel in Tangled, singing “when will my life begin.” We are taught, warned, and prepared for this “real world.” Now, facing that real world, it seems like a lot less separates us from it when we are in high school than popular sentiment suggests. At our 8th-grade graduation, Dr. Bachelor suggested that the idea of school preparing us for “the real world” was a myth, because the real world was already around us – after graduating, this still rings true.

Like many of us, I’ve been a student in Radnor public schools since day 1 in kindergarten. I remember asking what the number “22” meant at the end of my computer login. When my teachers explained that it was the year I would graduate, it seemed abstract and hypothetical, like a discussion about extraterrestrial life or string theory. I’m sure none of us thought much about the end of our time in Radnor schools because we were too busy with reading corner, field day, and particularly for the other RES kids, the 4th-grade circus, and the 5th-grade musical.

High school experiences often fall on opposite ends of a spectrum — “the greatest days of my life” or “thank God it’s over,” — and I’m not sure where I fall. Looking back, it’s easy to romanticize the hallowed halls of Radnor High and find sentimental value in small moments, all while forgetting the negative pieces. Though on paper I’ve been successful in high school, by no means was it always the best of times, or even enjoyable.

At the end of my freshman year, I didn’t know that I would make it to graduation day, at least in Radnor. I would come home every day and research other options for high school. Private schools, boarding schools, I even found a semester-long study abroad trip to Thailand that I was dead-set on. Most of my frustrations stemmed from feeling like I had no pieces of the real world to surround myself with. In a letter I wrote to myself at the end of my freshman year for health class, which all the graduates recently received, I wrote that “because I had no choice in the work I was completing for classes, I felt somewhat purposeless.”

Now, I would tell my freshman-year self to find her pieces of the real world and structure her passion and excitement around these pieces. I’m not sure if every piece of this frustration ever went away, but finding more parts of what felt like the “real world” to put into my life made this feeling of purposelessness more of an annoyance with certain tasks rather than a feeling of dismay at a seemingly unchangeable circumstance. Part of this discovery of the real world involved, ironically, Model United Nations, but especially the Radnorite and Crew. Journalism and rowing are now two pieces that make up the foundations of my real world. But that is not to say that the pieces of the real world that you find in high school must be useful for furthering your career or ambitions — there is immense value in finding a part of the real world merely because it is fun.

So much of this real world can also come from community. Construct community for yourself wherever possible — joining a new club (cliche but true), bonding will fellow students by supporting their passions, and inspiring passion in those around you — and welcome others who are seeking it.

This unsolicited advice is much easier said than done — trying to “find yourself,” I mean.  But remember that there’s no rush and that finding things that make you happy or at least inspired daily comes first. Find something that when you’re doing it, you know there is nothing else you should be spending your time on that could be more valuable to yourself. In this pursuit, in the words of Taylor Swift, “Never be ashamed of trying. Effortlessness is a myth.” When you find something that drives you, never feel the need to hide that passion. 

Above all, be easy on each other, because in the end, everyone is just trying to find themselves while surviving the social pressures and difficult circumstances surrounding them—most of the time that warrants some forgiveness.

To the Class of 2022, congratulations. I hope that we all might find a way for our greatest strengths and passions to serve our very real world’s greatest needs.

Thank you to the Radnorite for being my piece of the real world.

The following map shows the destinations of all the students in the Class of 2022 pursuing higher education, list of colleges was collected on an opt-in basis from students. This list does not aim to assign value to students’ achievements based on what college they are going to but hopes to record and share the vast variety of places that the Class of 2022 is setting off for.

Map from Nathan Kellerman.

Seniors’ Future Plans

Aaron Zhu – Cornell University

Aditya Dhingra – University at Buffalo

Aidan Leonard – University of Vermont

Aidan Scott –  Gap Year

Ainsley Marinakos – University of Vermont

Alexa Green – University of Michigan

Ali Miltenberger – Villanova University

Amelia Reinholt – Colgate University Lacrosse 

Amy Lee –  Villanova University 

Anika Jaswal – Northeastern University 

Anjali Engstrom – Syracuse University

Ariana Moore –  University of California San Diego

Audrey Collins – Colgate University Swimming

Audrey Niedland – Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Audrey Rasmussen – College of William & Mary

Austin Johnson – Cornell University

Ava Gallia – Lafayette College 

Ava Gummel – Kutztown University 

Avery Barber – American University Swimming 

Avery Cellucci –  Miami University 

Beau Balitsaris – San Diego State University 

Ben Hart – University of Florida 

Brady Roselle – Coastal Carolina University

Caitlin Fram – University of Virginia

Caleb Eun – Drexel University

Cammi Goldenberg – Syracuse University

Caroline Birchler – San Diego State University 

Caroline Constable – Barnard College

Casey Cullen – Auburn University Swimming

Cassidy Else – Temple University 

Chase Stephano – Villanova University

Chloe Pepper – Pennsylvania State University

Chris Tufaro – Hillsdale College

Claudia Ball – Virginia Tech

Clifford Smith – Cabrini University Basketball

Connor O’Sullivan – West Chester University 

Courtney Wolfington – Denison University Lacrosse

Daniel Tropeano – Northeastern University 

Danielle Lomazoff – Northeastern University

Dave Kenney – Cabrini University Cross Country

Debby Armstrong – University of Pennsylvania

Elena Blumer – University of Arizona 

Elize Budziak – University of Massachusetts-Amherst – Commonwealth Honors College

Ella von Czoernig – University of Pittsburgh

Ellie Davis – Williams College Rowing

Elyse Kim – University of Hawai’i at Manoa

Emilie Puopolo – McGill University

Emily Dressel – Pennsylvania State University

Emily Harris – University of Pittsburgh Honors 

Emily Schultz – Syracuse University

Eric Vollmer – University of Florida

Erica Clarke – University of Michigan

Erik Speck – Pursuing music 

Ethan Gutsche – Butler University 

Fred Mehra – Temple University Crew

Gaven Williams – Carnegie Mellon University Track & Field 

George Economides – Rutgers University

Grace Purcell – University of Miami 

Halima Ghumman – Temple University

Hannah Baumgardner – Spelman College

Hope Delaney – Princeton University Field Hockey 

Hyemin Oh – Thomas Jefferson University

Isabella Virdone – Maryland Institute College of Art

Jack Condran – Pennsylvania State University

Jason Trosset – Franklin and Marshall College Lacrosse 

Jillian Matunis – University of Colorado Boulder 

Jimmy Kurtz – College of William & Mary

Joey Scannapieco – Pennsylvania State University

Jonah Horwitz – University of Colorado Boulder 

Josh Tessler – College of William & Mary

Josie Solomon – Northeastern University

Julia Morrison – Mount Holyoke College 

Julie Breedveld – Gettysburg College Lacrosse 

Justin Holley – Montclair State University

Justin Nourian – Brown University

Kaitlyn Lee – University of Pittsburgh

Karis Mameniskis – University of Pittsburgh

Karis Whitcomb – University of Colorado Boulder 

Kassandra Ramirez – Temple University 

Kelsey Moore – Elizabethtown College

Kelsey Wakiyama – College of William & Mary

Lanie Walsh – University of Alabama

Lauren Sciuchetti – University of Pittsburgh 

Leah Weitzman – Indiana University

Leni Hartman – Tufts University

Lia Lenthall-Cleary – University of Pennsylvania 

Lily Wagner – University of Colorado Boulder 

Lindsay Feinberg – Duke University 

Lucas Conlon – University of Miami 

Lucy Henkel – Columbia University 

Luke Curley – Pennsylvania State University

Luke Mallory – Tulane University

Madeline Bader – Pennsylvania State University

Madeline Plyler – Clemson University

Malie Dellorco – Pennsylvania State University

Manato Matsuoka – University of Pittsburgh

Margot Lane – Lehigh University

Mason Brown – University of Oklahoma

Meghan Moyer – Pennsylvania State University

Mia Coppola – University of Alabama

Minnie Madden – Connecticut College

Molly Haas – Lafayette College Lacrosse 

Natalie Anfuso – Stevens Institute of Technology

Nathan Kellerman – Bowdoin College 

Navya Ramesh – Temple University 

Naza Monjur – Carnegie Mellon University 

Neya Anand – George Washington University

Nick Heerkens – Pennsylvania State University

Nick LaVine – University of Pittsburgh

Nick Lucchesi – United States Air Force Academy Lacrosse 

Noah Conen – Pennsylvania State University

Noah Simone-Dobin – Pennsylvania State University

Noelle Kuhn – Pennsylvania State University

Noor Shamsi-Basha – Cabrini University  

Olivia Barker – Loyola University Maryland

Olivia Kelley – Lafayette College Lacrosse 

Olivia Parrish – Pennsylvania State University

Patrick Mannix – Pennsylvania State University

Payton Breck – Boston University

Peyton Enderle – San Diego State University

Poppy Chauhan – West Chester University 

Preston Breck – University of Southern California 

Reese Hillman – Bates College 

Riley Mazzalupi – Miami University Field Hockey

Rina Matsumoto – Sophia University 

Robby Toomey – University of Colorado Boulder 

Ryan Mathis – Pennsylvania State University

Ryan Movsowitz – Emory University

Ryan Webb – University of Tennessee

Sammy Carter – University of Tennessee

Sammy Cleary – Widener University

Sarah Khalil – University of Dayton

Sarah Wills – New York University 

Sebastian Kaper – Boston College

Sebastian Moreland – Villanova University

Sebastian Stueck – Fordham University

Seneca Farhy – Fordham University

Shashank Yalamanchi – University of Texas at Dallas

Sofia Floody – John’s Hopkins University

Sophia Twohig – DeSales University

Sophie Hutchinson – Marymount Manhattan College 

Tess Brennan – Emerson College

Tessa Klimowicz – Union College

Tien Tran – Villanova University

Tiki Schoenborn – Clemson University

Tilan B Ogutu- Pennsylvania State University

Vera Castro – St. Joe’s University

Vicky Defreitas – University of Miami 

Will Gallagher – Notre Dame Lacrosse

Will Page – San Diego State University 

Ygi Sanchez – University of Scranton 

Zach Barbarisi – Bucknell University

Zach Moffa – Thomas Jefferson University

Zoriana Witmer – Pennsylvania State University

Most Popular Colleges:

Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Main Campus (30)

University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus (15)

Temple University (12)

Drexel University (8)

Villanova University (8)

West Chester University of Pennsylvania (7)

University of Colorado Boulder (6)

Syracuse University (6)

William & Mary (5)

Northeastern University (4)

University of Pennsylvania (4)

San Diego State University (4)