By Michael Fitzgerald ‘26
On Aug. 18, 2025, I started the first day of my senior year. It was a warm day, and I was excited for what was to come. Our first football game was 11 days away, and I felt a mix of emotions. I was excited to be a senior in my final year of high school, but I also felt sentimental. I couldn’t believe the past three years had flown by in the blink of an eye.
The fall of my senior year started off great. We were doing well in football, I was going to homecoming dances, and I was having fun with my friends every weekend.
As the football season went on and we made it to the state championship, I started to feel sentimental again. I was almost finished with my senior season. After we won the state semifinal game, it took me back to Nov. 24, 2018. I was a 10-year-old kid watching my twin brothers play in the state championship for Brother Rice, thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Sadly, they lost, and after we dropped off the rest of our family, my mom and I waited in the Brother Rice parking lot for them.
As we waited for my brothers to come off the bus, I made my mom a promise. I told her that one day I would go to Brother Rice and win a state championship. After seven years, that moment was finally here. My team and I pulled through and won the state championship for Brother Rice for the first time in 44 years.
As the year went on, I attended many basketball and baseball games, which I enjoyed. I couldn’t believe how fast time was going and wished it would slow down.
On April 7, 2026, at about 5:50 a.m., nine of my best friends and I boarded a flight with our moms for our senior trip to Florida. I knew the trip would go by quickly, so I made the most of every moment. Those were four of the best days of my life.
Since we returned from Florida, time has felt like it has been moving twice as fast. I was hit with the realization that this was it — high school was about to be over.
On May 4, 2026, I entered my final week of high school. I thought back to when I was in third grade, dropping my three older brothers off at Brother Rice. My dad said, “Before you know it, you’ll be walking through those doors.” I remember thinking I had all the time in the world. I was mistaken.
If I could leave younger students with some advice, I would tell them to cherish every moment. As Ferris Bueller once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.“
You never know how good you have it until it’s over. Be yourself. No one will remember that one F on a test or the time you got a sdetention. They will remember how you treated others and the attitude you had along the way.
As I enter this next chapter of my life, with graduation and eventually college, I will miss the memories I made at Brother Rice. But as people often say, “All good things must come to an end.” I will always be thankful for my time at Brother Rice High School.
