Since this is my last column, my last words as Editor in Chief, and my last things I can say to my peers and teachers, I might as well make it good.
    I cannot look back at my high school career without being appreciative of all that has been at my disposal over the years. While I am grateful for my close friends I have gained over the years, they are not the only people I will remember. 
    Before I get fully into this article, I would like to admit that I plan to break one journalistic rule. While I should refer to all of the following people by first and last name, I feel that out of respect, I should name them how I have always known them. 
    My high school teachers have impacted my life very much, and I think it took until late senior year for me to fully see this. But since I attribute my success to their influences, I feel it is only appropriate to explain and give credit to the ones whom I had more than once and have truly impacted me. 
    I had Mr. Hayes for freshman and junior years Honors English. In these classes I first started my "Zen corner" to remain calm during the timed in-class essays. I learned how to truly read a book, gaining more insight from every piece than I ever would have expected. 
    I have been in different classes with Mr. Silvidi since sophomore year. This year I truly see the full extent of his dedication to his students. While he often stayed after school with the Lantern students for printing and other staff meetings, he also invested much of his time with preparing everyone in my AP English class for the final test. This preparation, while tolling, did in fact help immensely. On top of this, Mr. Silvidi has always made himself available to talk or to help individual students at any time. He is understanding, and I am extremely appreciative to have had him for three years in a row. 
    My junior year involved taking AP Physics with Mr. Shane, another teacher I will never forget. While his sarcasm and politically-incorrect statements made class enjoyable, I also learned a great deal. Moreover, Mr. Shane showed his dedication to our class by always being there to answer questions, even if they were stupid questions (I also learned those exist). 
    For the past two years I have had the pleasure of taking biology classes from Mr. Fisher. These classes were (by far) ones during which I laughed the hardest. While Mr. Fisher himself provided humor on a daily basis, students also always felt comfortable to speak their minds, which added another layer of humor. His jokes often pertained to the subject at hand, which made it much easier to recall limitless amounts of information on test days. 
    I also had the pleasure of having Mrs. Gillette for the past two years. While these classes, especially AP Calculus, added a great amount of stress to my life, it was not until the AP test that I realized all that Mrs. Gillette was able to teach us in such a short amount of time. Mrs. Gillette ensured that we learned all the material necessary to excel on this extremely difficult test, and she was always dedicated to her students. She offered after school help almost every day, and she met up with my entire class before AP testing week at Barnes and Noble. She took numerous hours out of her life for her students, and I cannot thank her enough for all of that. 
    While Mrs. Weigand is not a teacher at this school, I was lucky enough to experience her helpfulness as a counselor for all of my four years of high school. She wrote me letters of recommendation for college and scholarships, and she dedicated hours to discussing my future endeavors with me. Mrs. Weigand has also been there for me and all of her other students, making herself available to talk or to help at any moment. Each year I became more and more appreciative of all she has done, and I continue to feel this way towards her.
    In short, high school was a crazy experience. And while I want to remember the good times with friends and whatnot, I cannot look back without admiration for my amazing educators. So thank you, all of you, for all that you have done. You have sacrificed countless hours to educating me and my peers, and you have succeeded at teaching us all that you could in four short years. You have not only taught us the information, but you have taught us how to learn. You have taught me how to appreciate learning, and for all of this, I cannot thank you enough. So, now that I am leaving this place that I have called home for four years, I would like to tell you that you succeeded, and I will forever be grateful. Continue the great work, and know that your students, while often silent, are appreciating the amounts of knowledge they are gaining from the rigors of your classes and the individual attention you all dedicate to them.