Congratulations Class of 2016, a Look Back at the World that Shaped your Journey

Parents of 2016 graduates… are you there yet?  Are you finding yourself looking at old pictures of your child entering kindergarten, middle school, heading off to senior prom – and wondering, as we all do, how the heck did it go so fast?

It is an unspoken right of passage for parents of high school graduates. Embrace it and cherish the memories as they come flooding back.

You are allowed to remember, re-live, cry, smile…. feel all the emotions that encapsulate just how fast childhood goes as you prepare yourself to let go and send the young adult you did your best to shape and create off into the big world.

As your child prepares for the last day of high school and grabs their red graduation robe this Friday, June 10th, we thought we’d take you back in time and show you how much has happened and changed –  and some things that shaped the world and the experiences your graduate will remember as their childhood.

They were….

Born When:

• DotComs were taking over wall street; DVD players and discs had just hit the market
• President Clinton was half way done with his second term
• The first home was built on Snoqualmie Ridge
• Many parents were just getting their first cell phone
• Apple announced the iMac
• Titanic, along with Jack and Rose, hit the big screen and set records
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets debuted
• Monica Lewinsky became a household name
• Bombings at the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya were linked to Osama Bin Laden
• Google launched

Learning to Walk When:

• The Euro currency debuted
• Bill Clinton was accquitted in impeachment proceedings
• The second Star Wars Triology debuted
• As Microsoft  stock price soared, Bill Gates was named the wealthiest person in the world
• 12 students and one teacher died in the Columbine Massacre
• Napster and Spongebob Squarepants debuted
• WTO protests hit Seattle
• John F Kennedy Junior Died in a plane crash
• USA Women’s Soccer Team won the World Cup

Potty Training When:

• Dot Com Bubble Burst
• World Population hit 6 billion
• Nisqually earthquake hit
• The Kingdome was imploded to make way for Safeco and Centurylink Fields
• The last Peanuts Comic was published
• Dora the Explorer debuted
• Hillary Clinton was elected to the senate, the first First Lady elected to public office
• An Alaska Airlines plane returning from Mexico crashed off the coast of California
• George W Bush defeated Al Gore to become president

In Preschool When:

• Planes flew into the World Trade Center and Pentagon; the hunt for Osama bin Laden began; and the U.S. invaded Afghanistan
• The Office of Homeland Security was established
• Anthrax was scaring America
• Gary Ridgeway, The Green River, killer was finally arrested
• The Winter Olympics visited Salt Lake City, Utah
• The United States Government had a $5.6 trillion dollar budget surplus and the Bush Tax Cuts started
• California Adventure Park opened at Disneyland
• Apple launched the iPod
• Queen Elizabeth II celebrated 50 years as queen
• Snipers shot and killed 10 and injured 3 in the Washington D.C area in a three-week period
• Allegations of child sex abuse and cover-up rocked the Catholic Church
• The Snoqualmie Valley School District passed a capital construction bond that built two new schools – Cascade View ES and Twin Falls MS – and also built Wildcat Stadium where they graduate this year

In Elementary School they were:

• Kindergarteners when the Iraq War began; Saddam Hussein was captured; Elizabeth Smart was found alive after being kidnapped a year earlier; SARS claimed 750 lives and sickened 8,000 in 25 countries; Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere; Friends ended; Facebook was founded
• 1st graders when George W. Bush was re-elected; The Boston Red Sox won the World Series after 86 years of falling short; Natalie Holloway went missing in Aruba; the Indian Ocean Tsunami hit the day after Christmas, taking 230,00 lives
• 2nd graders as Hurricane Katrina Hit; Enron executives were found guilty of  conspiracy and fraud; Hannah Montana debuted on Disney Channel
• 3rd grade when Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death; Twitter was launched; local housing prices hit ‘bubble’ levels; Virginia Tech shooting happened; Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone; Netflix started streaming movies
• 4th graders when Gossip Girl debuted; the housing bubble burst; the last Harry Potter book debuted and  set sales records; Apple launched the App Store
• 5th grade when the banking crisis started the worst recession in America in over 70 years; Barack Obama became the first African-American U.S. President; Caycee Anthony dominated the news; Michael Jackson died; Swine Flu took 4,000 lives in the U.S; a December snowstorm pounded the Snoqualmie Valley; January flood waters entered MSHS; Vampires became cool thanks to the Twilight series books

In Middle School they were:

• 6th graders when texting became their life; Apple launched the iPad; the Haitian earthquake took 230,000 lives and left a million homeless; Chilean miners were trapped 2,300 ft below the surface; the drug war ravaged Mexico; Deep Water Horizons oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, creating one of the largest oil spills in history
• 7th graders when Instagram launched, Osama Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan; a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit the east coast of Japan, taking over 15,000 lives; “Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell” was repealed; Senator Gabby Giffords was shot; Prince William married Kate; the final space shuttle mission was flown; Steve Jobs died
• 8th graders when SnapChat launched; Occupy Wall Street took over Manhattan; the Iraq War ended; a January ice storm knocked out power to the Valley for days; police swarmed Peter Keller’s bunker on Rattlesnake Ridge, making national headlines; world population crossed 7 billion

In High School they were:

• Freshmen when President Obama was re-elected; bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon; Pope Francis became head of the Catholic Church; gay marriage became legal in Washington; Hurricane Sandy pummeled the east coast; the Sandy Hook shooting happened; Netflix debuted original series, shaking up the big TV networks
• Sophomores when SVSD 9th graders moved up the street to the Freshman campus; the federal government had a two-week shutdown; Ebola was spreading; Malaysia Airlines 370 disappeared; Seahawks won the Super Bowl; a natural gas explosion rocked downtown North Bend; Snoqualmie Police began patrolling North Bend; Robin Williams died
• Juniors when Valley voters approved a $244 bond to rebuild MSHS and new Timber Ridge Elementary; MSHS moved from being a 3A to 4A school; the local housing market bounced back to life; Black Lives Matter Protests spread across the country; U.S. and Cuba resumed normal relations after 50 years; the NFL was rocked by domestic and child abuse issues; nine died in the Charleston Church shooting that led to South Carolina taking down the Confederate Flag from the State Capital; Marysville Pilchuck happened too close to home; Seahawks returned to the Super Bowl and lost in heart-breaking fashion
• Seniors when Twin Peaks returned to the Snoqualmie Valley after 25 years to film the new series; a new Star Wars movie hit the big screen; ground was broken for a new Mount Si High School; ISIS attacked Paris; Donald Trump surprised pundits and became the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee; Hillary Clinton became the first presumptive female nominee for President; a newly designed SAT debuted; Prince died; home prices hit all time highs the Snoqualmie Valley

Congratulations Mount Si High School Class. Best of Luck wherever the next journey takes you!