By Natalie Enriquez
Picture this, it’s a warm summer evening, and the air is filled with a mix of nostalgia and excitement. Redwood High School seniors come together one last time, ready to bid farewell to their high school days.
As they gather for their graduation ceremony, there’s something special that unites them all, music. These melodies have become the soundtrack of their journey, capturing memories, emotions, and the spirit of their high school experience.
From the first notes to the final chords, these songs hold a deep meaning for the graduating seniors, reminding them of friendships, challenges, and growth they’ve experienced.
As the 2023-2024 school year comes to an end, most seniors have songs or playlists dedicated to graduating or their senior year in general.
For Rachelle Araujo, ‘24, one song that takes her back to her senior year is Clocks by Coldplay. “The song’s name itself being Clocks, knowing that this entire senior year went by so fast, we know time will not wait for anyone. So you better make these memories count.”
Araujo and her friends would always have songs that they could just sing their hearts out to, so there wasn’t just a singular song. There’s a whole playlist that they have together that consists of artists like Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, The Weekend, and so many more similar to them.
“One significant song that definitely had a significant impact on me this year definitely has to be Matilda by Harry Styles just because of college and leaving Visalia behind. Leaving everything I grew up with and my friends who became a second family and leaving my family, I feel like making these choices alone is a very big decision us seniors have to make.”
Raul Alvarado, ‘24, says that for him the song Saturn by SZA takes him back to his senior year of high school. Another song by the same artist he says is Good Days. “It’s a good song. It really pulls your emotions.”
He says that having music dedicated to senior year, and at graduation in general, allows students to develop emotions during the moment, whether those emotions are sad or if they are happy. These emotions are to be felt through music to get through the year and finally finish off strong.
Gabriela De La Cruz, ‘24, says that Graduation by Benny Blanco and Juice World is a song that she dedicates to this year. “Like the song says ‘As we go we remember all the times we spent together.’ It just gives me a happy memory knowing that I spent the last four years making incredible memories that I will remember as I go on in life.”
“Music has definitely made an impact on my senior year because I found an emotional but happy feeling in songs that made me realize that our senior year is almost over, but it’s okay because we made the best memories out of it.”
The song Slipping Through My Fingers by Meryl Streep resonates with De La Cruz’s senior year coming to an end as it talks about how time slips through our fingers and how we’re growing up.
Aliza Maldonado, ‘24, says that the first song that comes to mind when thinking about senior year is River and Roads by The Head and The Heart. “The reason I have felt such a connection to this song is because the lyrics have felt so real. I feel like I’m in a movie and the song is the background music. It’s just the perfect song to show how my senior year went.”
There is a verse in the song that Maldonado feels that describes her senior year of high school. ‘A year from now we’ll all be gone, all our friends will move away.’ “It just describes how after high school we all grow up and have our own little lives, and these are probably the last moments we have with these people.”
In the end, those songs became much more than just sounds and words. They became the heartbeat of our high school journey, the soundtrack of our memories. As we move on from graduation, those melodies will forever resonate in our hearts, reminding us of the friendships, the challenges, and the dreams we shared. They will forever be a part of us, a symbol of the incredible chapter we leave behind.
Songs to listen to before graduation:
The Spins by Mac Miller, Empire of the Sun
RUNNING OUT OF TIME by Tyler the Creator
We Are The People by Empire of the Sun
Yes I’m Changing by Tame Impala
Outro by M83
Natalie Enriquez
Natalie Enriquez, '24, is in her second year of writing for the Redwood Gigantea. Outside of journalism, she likes to pass time reading or listening to music. Natalie hopes to make her time, as well as others, at Redwood High School fun and memorable.
Tags: class of 2024, graduation, graduation 2024, music, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, rhs, seniors, songs, visalia ca
