Emma Oesch ‘29 Shares Her Thoughts

As the Class of 2029 enjoyed their Eighth Grade Celebration on Thursday, May 29, 2025, Emma Oesch ’29 shared her thoughts with her peers and their families.

Hello, Class of 2029! As I look out at all of you, I see dedicated, intelligent, caring, confident, and powerful individuals who have come together to form this amazing class of students. When I think of our class, one word comes to mind: unique. There is no one in this group of people who sits beside you who is like another.

One thing I love about this community is that we all bring our different backgrounds, cultures, and identities together to form the class of 2029. A quote from Stephen Covey says, “Strength lies in differences, not in similarities.” Our differences make the bonds we have formed over the last four years so strong.

Some people here have known each other since JK, others joined sometime throughout Lower School, and maybe you joined in fifth grade at the beginning of middle school. Some only knew each other after joining in seventh grade when our class doubled in size, and others just met this year.

A little fun fact: by the time this year ends, we will have had over 150 school days in total this year. Each day, as I walk into school, I see us bonding more and more, forming a strong unit that can work together and take on academic challenges, but also have lots and lots of fun in the process. Even during the hardest of times, when our workloads were getting overfilled, we somehow pushed through it with smiles on our faces.

I know that I can say on behalf of most of the teachers and administrators, faculty, and staff that we have left a positive impact on their day, year, or life. MICDS would not be the same without the people who spent blood, sweat, and tears to make it what it has become. Can we please give them a round of applause?

Lastly, I want to say thank you to all the adults who have dedicated countless hours of their time making sure that we have the highest possibility of succeeding in high school, college, and the rest of our lives.

Whether that was teachers staying after school or getting there early in the morning to help you on an assignments, our deans who have had to experience and put up with our good and bad moments, the team of administrators that work in the front office and Olson Hall that ensures we have the best possible middle school experience, the trusted individuals who were there to listen without judgement when you wanted to get things off of your chest, the P.E. teachers who encourage us to take a break and be physically active during the day, the fine arts teachers who help us experiment with our creative sides, and the library staff who spend their time helping us research on projects and essays during larger assignments.

While it is easy to focus on our project, it is important to thank the cafeteria workers who make sure we have food on our plates everyday, the maintenance, housekeeping, and groundskeeping crew who help keep our school running smoothly, and the tech department for helping us through our technical difficulties because I know that everyone here has either broken their stylus or you computer stopped working or maybe even your charger blew up.

We truly appreciate everything everyone has done, but there is one person I want to mention the most for their support. Mr. Taylor, thank you for everything you have done for us over the past two years! You spend extra time telling us good morning and asking how our day is going. These little things go a long way and show that you care about every one of us. You have been a core aspect of our success over the last two years, and that is something for which every student sitting here is grateful.

As I finish up, I want to say thank you for all of the amazing connections I have made with the people sitting before me. These last four years have flown by, and I can not believe our middle school career is coming to an end. But hey, we survived! I am so excited to see what the future holds for this class! Thank you!