The skies were clear and the temps in the 70s when students of the Becker Class of 2016 gathered at City Park at noon for one final escapade of the year Thursday afternoon. 

 

The school held their annual senior picnic Thursday afternoon where students, teachers and school staff gathered to have fun and bid goodbyes. 

 

It was also the seniors’ last day of school and with graduation’s pomp and circumstance just over 24 hours away, the kids seemed anxious, eager and even a little melancholy.

 

City Park was an ideal location for the seniors to spend their final few hours together, where they could let loose, break from the day-to-day routines and reminisce about their four years of high school that slipped by so fast for most.

 

Assistant Principal Mark Kolbinger  and Teacher Matt Aho served up the burgers and brats inside the park pavilion during the picnic, while Principal Sandy Logrono kept supplies up, encouraged the kids and kept the chow line moving.

 

After enduring four years of homogenized testing, along with the wear-and-tear of going full-term with a 20-pound backpack and the highs and lows of sustaining friendships, this class of seniors seems more than ready for their new, indefinite future.

 

Some are eager to face the future, some most likely feel dread.

 

But as they prepare to leave home and their community for the first time in their lives, here’s hoping they accept the realization they will soon have to find their own food, find a way to cook it (microwave, stove or oven), learn to do their own laundry, learn to fail and overcome mistakes on their own, comprehend that schooling will get tougher and that one will have to start all over again making new friends and acquaintances.

 

So, congratulations Class of 2016, here’s hoping you’re all ready for this “next chapter” of your life!