Juniors and seniors caught a glimpse of what life was like after their high school career by hearing what past students had to say on Thursday, Jan. 5.

During a School Improvement Team meeting earlier in the year, the group decided it wanted to collect information from past students on their post-secondary schooling experiences. From this idea, came the one for an alumni breakfast.

“We wanted to give our current students an opportunity to hear from  alumni about their life after high school and where they had gone after graduating,”  guidance counselor Pam Yelle said.

Students from the classes of 2014, 2015, and 2016 were invited.  The three most recent graduating classes were asked to fill out a survey, eat a pancake breakfast and catch up with some of their former teachers before addressing the current junior and senior classes.  In all, 30 former graduates attended.

“I learned a lot from the past graduates, and seeing some familiar faces helped me feel more prepared for the future,” junior Lauren Daniels said.

After breakfast, juniors and seniors gathered in the auditorium and the alumni shared their postsecondary experiences, both the good times and bad, what they’ve learned, and gave advice to give to the upperclassmen.

Yelle initiated this at her previous high school and found it very successful in gathering data and providing a fun opportunity for alumni to gather to share their experiences.

“We think it’s helpful for our students to hear from recent graduates so that they have realistic expectations of life after high school,” Yelle said.

Through this opportunity, students got some insight of what the future was like after graduating.  They learned of the many places to go and what was expected of them after their high school career.