Go’1n6, Go’1n6, Gone
Go'1n6, Go'1n6, Gone
Hannah Sessler ‘16
It finally came. The highly-anticipated, long-awaited final week of high school finally arrived. They all said it would go by so fast, that in the blink of an eye, senior year would be over. And, they were right. I just didn’t believe them.
As senior year comes to a close, I think it’s only fair to take a trip down Memory Lane and recall the finest moments of the class of 2016 at Golda Och Academy.
I transferred to Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, as it was then called, in the seventh grade, at the peak of Clique Season; tensions and drama were always running high between the “Sexy Seven,” “Rachel Group” and the Drama Queens. Things escalated to the point where the seventh grade girls had “Girl Talk” with Ms. Jaffe, where the girls vented to Ms. Jaffe about the stresses of middle school for an hour. It nearly always returned to the topic of boys and drama.
Classes and teachers also brought drama and funny memories of their own. I distinctly remember Morah Besner yelling at me in Hebrew, telling me to go live in a tent in the desert and barking my last name in her thick Israeli accent, accidentally creating my nickname, Sessler. Additionally, Ms. Sonet drank “pee” in Science and Ms. Himmelstein made us play “Moo,” a game that, to this day, nobody gets. 8th Grade passed in a haze of laziness. We were the kings of the castle and the top of the food chain. Little did we know that everything would change the following year.
The Class of ‘16 got a bit of a jump start on ninth grade, because we left for Na’ale two days before term officially began. The trip started off with a bang, as we welcomed Mira B., Hannah G., Arielle M. and Josh R. to the grade. There were several memorable moments, like when Hannah convinced everyone that she was a dog whisperer, a rumor perpetuated by her refusal to talk to anyone during the 12-hour plane ride. Once we returned to school, however, with Yaala the Na’ale bear, the academic year took off. The accelerated Language Arts class got to enjoy the final year of Mrs. Biegelson, “idears” and Fahrenheit 451, while the accelerated Social Studies class was lucky enough to learn from Dr. Frank (#9outof12).
Sophomore year brought many new surprises, including three new students, as we welcomed the Kizners and Jackie to our grade; however, Jackie’s GOA journey was unfortunately brief. Also, the arrival of Mr. Zelenka turned our class upside down as we adjusted to the new, modern history teacher with the bright hair and the hilarious talent of making Jackie Aron really, really mad. Half of us learned chemistry from Mrs. Kilic, who impressed us all and made us laugh with her adorable striped shirt outfits that resembled the SMART Board cartoon characters, the cartoons on our midterms and finals and sentencing everyone at some point to “Purgatory.” We also officially began the college process this year and had several meetings with Dr. Kanrich that resulted in a lot of stress and several appointments with math tutors as everybody began to freak about their grades. We also took the PLAN and the PSAT for the first time and everyone died.
Junior year arrived and, with it, a fresh load of stress. Everybody dove into the academic year, trying in vain to keep their grades up. The arrival of Mr. Hefetz added in an interesting flair to the year. At first, people were excited, mostly because Hefetz likes rap and loves The Bachelor, but then he bored us all with three months of old Arthurian legends and a research paper that forced us to watch television. The only thing that made up for it was when he brought his fiancée to the musical so we all could meet her.
Half of us had the privilege of learning from Dr. Jeng, otherwise known as “Jengerz.” We studied the tick-a-tape timer, pasta mobiles and, of course, vied to get out initials on the board first. Other exciting things happened, like the SATs and ACTs (for real, this time) and Prom. However, the clear standout of the year was the eleventh grade Shabbaton. Attendance was exemplary as the entire grade came out to spend a wonderful, ruach-filled weekend together, instead of studying for or taking the ACTs which were also scheduled that weekend.
Finally, senior year came upon us. The class of ‘16 started off the year with a blackout, because we’re intimidating. This year, we welcomed a new principal and several new room additions to our school. Seniors were treated to fascinating new classes, including History of Israel and Senior Seminar. We also got to enjoy the invaluable perks of open campus and free periods. Everyone celebrated with their friends as they got accepted to their dream schools, and once that stress was over, developed the most severe case of Senioritis this school has ever seen.
Now, the seniors are finishing studying for finals and relishing our last few days at GOA. We have so many exciting things coming up in the future: Senior Send-Off, Prom and, of course, Neshama and internships. As our time as high school students comes to a close, it is bittersweet, but we are grateful for everything that GOA has given us over the years.
