Editor’s Note: This article was also published in the Benet Herald 2025 Graduation Edition.

Parents, Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, Cousins, Students, Alumni, and Readers of the Future:

I was sitting in German class on a quiet Wednesday morning. What I remember from this morning the most was not the quiz I took later that period (I scored well), how long the announcements lasted (nine whole minutes), or even our class’ winning streak in German Wordle (we extended it to eight in a row!). It was my senior class’ responses to a question that my teacher posed to us during class, “What makes Benet unique?” Some said the obvious; sports teams, academics, and school spirit. But the answer that struck me the most was from a friend who transferred into Benet his junior year.

Speaking about his fellow classmates, he said that “What most impresses me about Benet is the intelligence of its students.”

It was a point that I never really sat down to contemplate, and yet, its profoundness struck me as something special. In my opinion, our class contains some of the most outstanding graduates.

It is our class that played a pivotal role in two state championships and has raised tens of thousands for the Christmas Drive. More importantly, it is our class that has the intelligence, leadership, and humility which will serve them well in life. The connections that the class of 2025 has formed will remain with them for the rest of their lives.

I will be attending the University of Notre Dame in the fall, where I expect to major in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics (ACMS) and Mechanical Engineering and minor in History. I will become a part of the Glynn Family Honors Program. The skills that I will need in college were undoubtedly improved by my time running the Herald.

I have been incredibly fortunate to preside over the most productive year in our paper’s modern era. With over thirty-five active staff writers across all grade levels, managing the publication of nearly seventy thousand words of writing is no small feat.

Fortunately, the Editor Team, which included both Deniz as well as the Section Editors, were by my side when the going got rough. I am certain the paper will be led in a positive direction in no small measure through their efforts.

Last but not least, I’d like to thank the many people, without whom my foray into journalism would not have been possible. I would like to thank Aarav Julka, last year’s Co-Editor-In-Chief, for giving me the encouragement and guidance to head the newspaper. Without him, you would not be reading these words, and thus I owe a deep debt to him. My parents, my sister, my aunts and uncles, particularly Uncle John, who as a pastor in the Diocese of Joliet has shaped my faith in a beneficial direction, and my grandparents (may they rest in peace) have all been critical influences in shaping my love of learning and expressing that desire.

Lastly, this graduating class is one of the most special groups of people that I have ever been able to be a part of. I will look on my high school days with fondness because of my peers’ inclusivity, cordiality, and kindness.

Once a Redwing, Always a Redwing!

John Augustyn

Co-Editor-In-Chief, 2024-2025