In just three weeks, seniors in the Class of 2026 will file across a stage and take their seats one last time to close the chapter that has defined the last four years of their lives. These four years may have seemed like an eternity back then, but now, it’s almost over.
The countdown, despite being so close, carries a strange weight with it.
“It’s kind of surreal that we’re almost done. I’m really excited, but I know I will miss high school when I’m out,” senior Layan Dahab said. Dahab plans to attend George Mason University in the fall, studying health administration.
Instead of worrying about college, however, what she’s more focused on is how she’s going to leave behind all of the connections she’s made.
The community students become apart upon AHS is one of the most memorable parts of the journey.
“Annandale has been an important part of my identity, from the friendliness and inclusiveness of the orchestra community and the strong bonds between students,” senior Ngoc Do said. “I would truly miss every after-school
rehearsal and the friends, classmates and teachers who always wave or smile at me when we meet in the hallway.”
The Class of 2026 has left many marks on AHS that are difficult to ignore, from debuting various community events like Blizzard Breakfast and Bingo Night, to having one of the most significant amount of seniors athletes and achieving record numbers in test scores as well as boasting the largest cohort of IB Diploma Candidates in AHS history.
Principal Shawn DeRose, who has watched the seniors move up through AHS since their freshman year, is incredibly proud of their achievements and characters as a whole.
“The Class of 2026 is not only very successful and gifted academically, [but] they’re just very kind,” DeRose said. “They treat people really, really well and they make the people around them better.”
That kindness, he says, is reflected in AHS’s reputation, steadily building itself into one of the “strongest schools in the division.”
“We have got kids who have helped this school rise to another level and [are] something our underclassmen are able to look up to,” DeRose said. “I’m excited about the impact that they’re going to have beyond the walls of Annandale High School.”
And for many seniors, this graduation isn’t a mere stepping stone in their futures. Rather, it is the finish line they’ve been working towards for the last few years. For some, it may be the only graduation they have, which is why wearing the cap and gown and walking across the stage is such a grand milestone.
Few teachers have had as close of a seat to this journey as ESOL teacher Tricia Kapuscinski. She runs what she calls “The Dub Block,” teaching a double period of English 11 and 12, where the same faces show up on both Red and White days. They include students still learning English, students with IEPs, and students who just need the credits to graduate. What could easily feel like an impossible range of needs has instead morphed into something that brings Kapuscinski closer to her students.
“Since we see each other every day, we really become a family in the best ways and in the annoying family ways,” she said.
But because getting to graduation is not always the most straightforward process, Kapuscinski sits down with each of her students weekly, checking in and ensuring that nobody is left behind. She’s seen firsthand what crossing that stage can mean to her students and their families, which is why she is determined to help them succeed to the best of her ability.
“Instead of people on their own individual journeys, we are all in this together,” Kapuscinski said. “It can be really rewarding to see families celebrate high school graduation. [The seniors] achieved it, they’ve done it.”
After a year of rooting for each kid, graduation day is its own kind of reckoning for Kapuscinski and any fellow teacher, “I will probably be emotional. In a good way,” she said.
Even with the great accomplishment that graduating from high school brings, four years is a lot for students to walk away from, especially the teachers that have helped them along the way.
“[I won’t] be able to really get to know my teachers and have a connection with them,” senior and 2026 class president Téa Akl said. “In college, the classes are too big and you can’t really have that anymore.”
Akl will give a speech at the graduation ceremony on Monday, June 8 at 7 p.m. in the EagleBank Arena.
“I got a chance to bring our class together and that has allowed me to be more connected to my peers, ”Akl said.
When they walk out of that arena on graduation day, most won’t fully grasp what this place meant to them.
“They will quickly realize, as many, many graduates do, that Annandale is just a special place,” DeRose said.
