Reflecting on All They’ve Seen

By: Zoe Young

As our seniors reflect on their time in school, they may be thinking back on all the classes they have experienced in their lives, but what they might not be thinking of is all the major world events they lived through. 

The first historical event started in 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPhone. The next year in 2008, Barack Obama was elected the first black president of the United States. In 2011, Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces. In 2012, gun rights made headlines with the Sandy Hook shooting. That’s not the only act of violence our seniors have lived through. They also lived through the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the terrorists bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013. In 2014, Dr. Janet Yellen became the first woman to be the head of the US Federal Reserve.

In 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that all states had to recognize same-sex marriage. In 2019, there was the longest government shutdown in US history. In 2020, masks and quarantine followed the global COVID-19 outbreak. In 2021, there were U.S. Capitol riots, and Kamala Harris became the first woman Vice President. In 2022, Roe V. Wade was overturned, the war in Ukraine started, and Queen Elizabeth the Second died after reigning for 70 years. 

Throughout their lives, the seniors have lived through many big events that have affected everything they do. But, they go onto graduation ready to face the world and to make their own history.