By John Finnell ‘22 – Team Leader

Summarizing a full year in one page? Yikes. I mean, really, most people can write hundreds of pages and not say a single thing, so to summarize my last year at Rice with a few hundred words seems impossible. Perhaps I’ll start by putting into one word: inevitable.

My time at Rice has slipped away; years have trickled down to just one week. At the end of next week, the senior class will depart into a greater world armed with every advantage Brother Rice was able to give us.

At the time of writing this, we have six days of class left. I have six days left in Brother Hayes’ physics class, where we can learn about proper dinner etiquette and nuclear physics in the same period. Six days of utterly incomprehensible math in Mrs. Pansino’s calculus. Six days of jokes, six days with my classmates and friends, six days of Brother Rice.

This year has held host to everything I love (and hate) about Brother Rice. Resounding success with this year’s Drama Club show. Miserable slogs through some of the most frustrating classes I’ve ever had the displeasure of taking part in. Yet, all in all, I can say with absolute confidence that Brother Rice was the right choice for me.

At the end of my time here, with an uncertain future breathing down my neck, I’m tempted to look back to the many, many stories I have from Rice, but I find there’s a better use for what remains of my page. If you, reading this, find yourself in a similar situation to me, know this: It is these memories and stories that have prepared you to move on. I will move on soon, but I know that I am prepared. I know that Rice has given me the skills, the friends, and the memories that I will need. So thank you, Brother Rice. To all your knuckleheaded students which I am happy to count myself as. To the teachers who have all but dragged me here. In six days, it’ll all have paid off.