Zachary Kuznetsov ’30 Reflects on the Middle School Experience at Eighth Grade Celebration

At Eighth Grade Celebration for the Class of 2030 on Thursday, May 28, 2026, Zachary Kuznetsov ’30 spoke in McDonnell Athletic Center. He walked the audience through a sped-up version of MICDS Middle School. Check out the moments he shared with his peers and their families below.

Hey folks! Just a heads up, this speech is actually being graded, so please laugh at my jokes! *Pause* Just kidding! Now that we’ve cleared that up, I’d like to start by thanking everyone for coming out to celebrate the achievements of all of the amazing students sitting before us today.

Instead of just telling you about our time in middle school, I want everyone to join us and experience it for a moment.

If you’d like, I want you all to close your eyes and paint this picture. Your first year has just begun, you’ve already received your big red tube in the mail, and you are excited about your journey on what might be the biggest campus you’ve ever seen. Stepping into school for the first time, you meet your advisory, new friends, new faces, new teachers. Everything is exciting, but it also just feels a bit overwhelming. You learn where your classes are and that you have to get through the walk in the scorching hot sun just to get to your arts classes in Freeman.

As time passes, you enter a more stressful stage. Your first test score. Your first Quick Comment, which isn’t as sweet as you thought it’d be. You come into class late, first thing in the morning, only to realize that your computer wasn’t charged the night before. And of course, this eventually leads to the long walk of shame to the outlet, while your teacher reminds you for the hundredth time to “Charge your computer.”

And before long, you’re smack dab in the middle of your time in middle school. The responsibilities start to pile up. What sports should I play? What clubs should I sign up for? Making the most of Flex Time to meet with teachers and get work done becomes a big priority instead of just talking to your friends like you did before. And then it’s the little things like losing your stylus, being too stubborn to buy a new one, and ending up having to write Ohm’s Law with your finger on OneNote every single time you make the long haul to the science wing.

And finally, you’re in your last year of middle school. New commitments start to come up. How do I get my 10 hours of community service? What can I do to prepare myself for the next step? How am I ever going to finish my 10th literary analysis paragraph?

And just as you answer these tough questions, you step out of your final block class, and it starts to sink in that your time as a middle schooler at MICDS has come to an end.

Today, we close a chapter in our lives and simultaneously start writing another. We finish off our time in the Middle School and get ready to hit the ground running in the Upper School.

None of this could have been done alone. Parents, teachers, and faculty, thank you so much for the guidance and support, along with the constant reminders over and over again. We are all so grateful for the opportunity and privilege to go to such a beautiful school.

And to my fellow classmates, thank you for making these years memorable and fun. We have a big challenge ahead of us, and I know that we can take it on together as a class. And finally, in the words of the late, great Kobe Bryant, “Job’s not finished.”

Thank you!