Today, June 7, 2013, on Wildcat Stadium Field, the Mount Si High School Class of 2013 graduates. These now young adults were defined by the historical events and technological advancements that occurred during their first 18 years of life and coming of age school years. Let’s take a look back in time and be amazed by some things that marked the class of 2013′s road to graduation.
They were…
- Born when Microsoft stock was splitting quarterly, few homes had computers, the internet was just taking off and The Lion King and Pocohontas premiered, which they watched on VHS, not DVD
- Born when President Clinton was in the early years his first term
- Born to many families who moved to the valley when North Bend, not Snoqualmie, was building subdivisions and “cookie cutter” homes
- Born when cell phones took off and email was a new word – parents never imagining the teen years would be dominated by the two
- Babies when President Clinton met Monica Lewinsky, was later impeached and home computers were considered a luxury
- Potty training when Microsoft invested millions to save Apple, paving the way for the innovative technology that dominated their teen years
- Starting preschool when the first DVD player became available at a $1000 price tag and the first iMac launched
- Still preschoolers when the first Snoqualmie Ridge home was built
- Graduating preschool when the Dot Com bubble burst
- Kindergarteners when the Nisqually Earthquake struck
- 1st graders when the World Trade Center towers fell, Osama Bin Laden became enemy #1 and the first iPod launched
- 2nd graders when Snoqualmie Valley passed a bond building two schools where some were the first 5th graders and some the first 8th graders to walk the halls, and also built them top-notch high school athletic facilities where their graduation is held today
- 2nd graders when the Iraq war began and juniors when it ended
- 3rd graders when Saddam Hussein was captured
- 3rd graders when Facebook entered the scene – changing their future social lives
- 4th graders when the Indian Ocean tsunami killed 230,000 people
- Starting 5th grade when Hurricane Katrina hit
- Middle schoolers when the iPhone launched and notes were no longer needed to ask a girl out- because TEXTING became their lives
- Starting middle school when Twitter launched. Today, it’s hash tag everything
- In their last year of middle school when the economy crashed, banks folded and the real estate market collapsed
- 8th graders when the first African-American was elected president of the United States
- The first MSHS graduating class to attend 5 elementary schools and 3 middles schools
- The first MSHS freshmen to use the new portable pod and Wildcat Court, which eased high school overcrowding
- Freshman when the iPad launched
- Sophomores when the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed and when Osama Bin Laden was killed
- Juniors when new Principal John Belcher took the reigns at Mount Si High School and the world population reached 7 billion
- Seniors when the economy sprung back to life and the Graduating Class of 2013, the same year World Trade Center 1, or the Freedom Tower, is scheduled to be completed, making it the tallest building in the western hemisphere.
They are: Good kids shaped by technology; captivated by social media; loved by parents; good friends with big hearts; survivors; forever connected to the Snoqualmie Valley, their home.
Congratulations Mount Si High School Class of 2013. Good luck wherever your future leads…
