Story and photos by Lisa Carolin
The Class of 2022 celebrated its last time at Beach Middle School June 13 at the Eighth Grade Farewell Ceremony.
The annual event was an enthusiastic farewell from Beach’s staff with families of the soon-to-be high school students all gathered.
“The Class of 2022 is full of strong personalities, strong opinions, strong academics, and strong athletics,” said Beach Principal Nick Angel.
He asked students to stand who’d participated in various clubs and activities and ended with the request, “If you had fun at Beach, stand up.” No one was left sitting.
Teacher Mike Lott was chosen to speak, and said that when he was in eighth grade he had no plans to become a teacher, until one day he realized all his jobs lacked passion.
“When I came to Chelsea I fell in love with teaching,” said Lott. “What I love most is you guys. We’re all so proud of you. You’re ready for high school.”
Assistant Principal Matt Ceo told the students, “I want to say thank you to this class because you give me hope for the future.”
Michael Struk, class president, spoke about sixth, seventh, and eighth grade being the beginning, middle, and end of their experience at Beach.
“Getting into the rhythm of middle school feels so good,” he said.
Erin Dusenbury, class vice president, said, “I believe in high school. You start fresh. There are many opportunities in high school, and I invite all of you to take them. The friends, experiences, and fun will exponentially increase in high school.”
Angel shared students’ thoughts on what they will miss most about Beach: “the nacho bar at lunch, math club, robotics club, and the smiling faces of the Beach staff” to name a few.
Recommendations Angel shared for getting off to a good start in high school included “getting a good night’s sleep, keeping a clean locker, remembering there is no recess, bringing clean clothing to gym class, and not dating seniors.”
Following the farewell ceremony, the eighth-graders were invited to a party in the cafeteria before they said goodbye to their school.
