On April 29th, the Benjamin community said farewell to its class of 2022, sending them through to the few weeks after full of AP exams and all the senior celebrations before they can finally call it summer. 

Seniors have been working hard all year, keeping strong to the end, and while they will miss the Benjamin community dearly, they are excited to finally take a deep breath as they soak in the summer sun. 

Senior Ryan Riutta simply wants to spend his summer break taking a stress reliever before heading off to Northeastern, located in Boston, Massachusetts. “This summer, I will be relaxing and trying to have as much fun as possible, mainly because I won’t get a summer break for the next four years, but I also need to wind down after all the hard work and effort that went into this year,” he said. 

Riutta will not only spend his summer taking time for himself, but he will also spend some time trying to leave Benjamin’s robotics teams with a head start for next year. 

While some seniors want to just chill out before a new wave of a different kind of rigor hits hard in the fall, some seniors are looking at a full schedule in the summer. 

Senior Sophia Smith said, “This summer will be busy but I’m really looking forward to spending the remainder of time I have before college with my family and friends. If things go well at regionals to qualify for nationals, mg days will be occupied with training up until the middle of June. My family also has plans of traveling afterwards, and I hope to, and I hope to volunteer my time and energy for different causes at home and possibly even abroad this summer.”

Ultimately, looking forward to all the good things that will accompany college forces seniors to look back on all the things that have brought them this far and all the things they will miss. 

Riutta said, “I will definitely miss VEX robotics and the friends I have made along the way. I’ll also miss tryharding on Mr. Ruggie’s tests to get on his wall. However, I’m looking forward to college, not just because I’ll get to learn partial differential equations but also because I can finally get out of the sweltering Florida heat. Boston is such a nice change of scenery, plus the city life will be a welcome change.”

Smith, who will also be moving to the northeast in the fall to attend Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said, “College in Rhode Island will be a major adjustment to sunny, laid-back Florida, but I am really looking forward to learning and living in a town with rich history, food, and art as well as belonging to a new community full of students from all over the world. While it will be incredibly hard to say goodbye to all the people and places that have built my character into who I am today, the goodbye is not forever and I’ll always consider Jupiter and the people here my home.”

Not unlike the trend, senior Tvisha Goel, despite looking forward to moving back to her home region, said she will also miss what became her home for the last four years. 

“I really just want to spend the summer spending quality time with my family and friends. It took a lot for me to adjust to Florida after moving from Connecticut, and initially I hated it here but I’ve found my niche and I’ve got a great group of friends. I find myself struggling to leave it behind now. I hope all the seniors spend their summers relaxing and spending some well-deserved time to collect themselves before heading into the next big step in their lives,” she said.