Graduating high school and growing up can be very bittersweet for some people. It can be exciting to figure out what you want to do and who you are, but it can often be sad to let go of your childhood. Nostalgia is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a wistful or excessively sentimental yearning for return to some past period. Moving on to the next stage of life can warrant reflection on one’s past and what shaped them to be the person they are. Scents, movies, songs, pictures, and objects can all evoke that wistful feeling and bring someone back to the past. These six seniors shared what makes them nostalgic as they graduate and look back on their childhoods.
Senior Amelie Crow has one older brother. “We’d always make games in our yard together. We would play baseball using the corners of our yard and then we’d invite the neighborhood kids over,” Crow said. A smell that sticks out from her childhood would be cherry chapstick. “Any cherry chapstick just smells like my childhood,” Amelie said. Her favorite vacation from her childhood was going to Disneyland. “My mom is a Disney adult, so we go to Disney all the time. I love it. My favorite time was probably when I was 3 or 5.” When remembering her favorite toys from childhood, crow stated, “Normally Polly Pockets and Barbies would be my go-to and Littlest Pet Shop too I had a ton of those.”
Senior Miles Wilson has an older brother and younger twin sisters. “ We played on the Wii all the time. The annual trips to Montana were always fun too.” Wilson said. Overall, things that make Wilson feel nostalgic are Big Time Rush, Minecraft, and Wii Sports Resort. “I had Minecraft on my Kindle Fire 11 years ago. I’ve been playing Minecraft longer than some fans have been alive.” Wilson says his favorite vacation was going to Hawaii. “Hawaii was our last family vacation because we knew it was probably the last time my grandad would be able to travel,” He watched Cars, “Wall-E” and, “Big Time Rush,” Wilson said when he was younger.
Senior Lauren Williams has a younger sister. A big part of her childhood was also the Wii and playing Just Dance all the time with her younger sister.“We played with the Wii a lot” and also “Watching Barbie movies with my sister.” One of Williams’ favorite childhood memories is “going to Black Butte or Eagle Crest with my family for vacation.” She said that a smell that would describe her childhood was lemons. A genre of music that she heard during her childhood is metal, “Like 80’s 90’s rock and metal.” Williams said she still listens to music like this today.
Senior Alyea Boland is the third oldest out of her 10 siblings. “I only live with one of my siblings, Emma,” Boland said. She didn’t have the childhood everyone thinks of because she grew up in a foster home, moving around a lot and not getting adopted until she was eight. One of her favorite memories was when “seven of [her] sibling got together for a birthday party at a pizza parlor after years of not seeing each other,” Boland said. She says that she didn’t have any favorite shows as a kid since she never got to choose what was on, saying, “It was usually just Dora the Explorer.” Her favorite vacation as a kid was going to Universal with her family. “It was pretty cool and my family is full of Harry Potter nerds,” said Boland.
Senior Kyler Wolfe has one older brother. “One of my favorite childhood memories was playing Legos with my brother.” Wolfe said, “My grandpa had an Atari that my brother and I played games on.” One of Wolfe’s favorite TV shows when he was a kid was Gravity Falls.“Even though it was a kids show, it actually had a story to it,” Wolfe said. “Like an element and paranormal stuff, made it interesting. It was just a very funny and enjoyable show.” A smell that reminds him of his childhood is nature and says that “it smells like green.” But what makes Wolfe nostalgic? Well, he says, “My trip to Hawaii, I don’t remember what island, but at night we would go and catch frogs.”
Senior Ava Remington has an older and younger brother. They often will go on hikes as a family. “We played Super Smash Bros a lot. That’s another fun memory with my brothers, playing video games on the Wii,” said Remington. A smell that would describe her childhood would be her grandma’s raspberries. A song that sticks out from her childhood is “The Devil went down to Georgia, my dad had a CD with a bunch of songs on it, and that was one of them,” Remington said. Her favorite vacation was a camping trip to Washington. “I can’t remember what it was called, but it was a great beach and very beautiful I had a great time,” said Remington.
