By Luke Bishop ‘25
My senior year is coming to an end, and I feel that it was my best year at Rice. I am having some of the best memories at the moment. I tried new things like cross country and have also been captain of the Scholastic Bowl team. However, I will be sad to leave Brother Rice as I have spent the last four years going to school here.
My senior year started early with me deciding whether I should run cross country or play soccer. It was one of the toughest decisions of my life, as I love soccer but would never get any playing time. However this decision was made easy: I did both.
This was one of the hardest challenges I ever had to undertake. I had to wake up at 6 a.m. all summer to get to cross country practice at 7. Then. after running for two hours. I would go practice soccer for another two hours right after. This was further exacerbated when school started, so I would switch between soccer and cross country. However, I made memories that will last a lifetime as I traveled with the cross country team to State and also beat Marist with the soccer team.
Another new thing that I did was AP Biology. I also had to wake up early for it as it was at McAuley and a 7:30 class. However, I already was used to waking up early, so this lessened the challenges. It was still a lot of work, yet it was a lot of fun.
Finally, the last significant thing that happened to me was I became captain of the Scholastic Bowl team. I had only joined the year prior yet I was made captain of the team. We were extremely competitive and took third in conference and nearly qualified for state, but unfortunately, we lost to Lincoln-Way East. I still made a lot of memories, and it was definitely different being a leader instead of a follower.
As I look back on Rice, I remember when I was a freshman. I reflect on how much I have changed and matured. I will miss Brother Rice, but I will cherish the memories that I made. I hope I made an impact, and I hope that Brother Rice continues to thrive as a school and community.
