Seniors, friends, and teachers gathered in the Performing Arts Center to celebrate the class of 2025 and their many talents at Senior Farewell on Thursday night. The annual tradition offers seniors the chance to showcase their various abilities and support one another through their last moments together as a class.
The event was hosted by seniors Casey Watkins and Kasra Motamedi, who kept the energy high with jokes and audience questions between performances.
To kick off the night, senior Ariel Chien performed an impressive rendition of “Rachmaninoff Prelude No. 2” on the piano, where her fingers skillfully danced across the keys.
In a touching family performance, senior Pierce McGuire and his mother, Angela Schroeder, played “The Greatest” by Sia as a duet on the piano. Sitting side by side at the piano, McGuire keyed the low notes of the song and Schroeder gracefully hit the high ones.
To start his act, senior Addison Youngblood shocked the crowd by taking the stage via unicycle, which set the playful tone for his circus-inspired performance. Youngblood showed off his juggling skills with control over three, then eventually four balls as well as three bowling pins. After the show, he continued to entertain onlookers outside by juggling lit torches.
The dance team then performed a senior-only version of their best dances. As always, their choreography blew the audience away and drew loud cheers as they celebrated their last dance together.
While playing the drums is already a challenging feat, senior Rose Klingsporn took it to the next level. Not only did Klingsporn play with one hand, she did so while expertly solving two rubix cubes in a row.
Following Klingsporn, senior Lucas Selvik hopped onto the piano bench, playing and singing part of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen.
“I played ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on the piano and sang in my sixth grade talent show, so playing the same song at Senior Farewell is a full-circle moment for me,” Selvik said.
Next up were seniors Will Knox on the electric guitar, Arman Azadpour on the trumpet, and Josh Pfistner on the trombone. The three sang and played Frank and Nancy Sinatra’s “Something Stupid” beautifully, creating chilling harmonies while playing their respective instruments masterfully.
Then, a large group of senior girls took to the stage to perform a lipsync to the Barden Bellas’ final performance from Pitch Perfect. The group nailed the choreography, down to the backflip done by senior Sara Nordlund and the splits from senior Ruby Pence, replicating the movie perfectly.
As a last hurrah, the band from M-A Drama’s Hadestown, which included electric guitarist Knox, drummer Klingsporn, trombonist Pfistner, senior vocalists Izzy Zohar and Kate Barker, and senior bassist Anna Justice, took to the stage and played “Way Down Hadestown.” They dedicated the iconic song to their tech director, Aaron Grinstead. Since the original actors from the musical weren’t in the act, senior cellist Lia Lev* and senior pianist Benji Weiss* got the opportunity to sing the parts of Persephone and Hermes.
“It was nice to be able to present the song in different contexts from the theater we had done and some of us got to sing it as well, which we didn’t get to do in the theater,” Knox said.
Before the last act took the stage, Leadership teacher Mike Amoroso brought the organizers of the event, English teacher Lisa Otsuka, math teacher Kristen Bryan, and science teacher Erica Woll, to the stage to congratulate and thank them for the amazing night. “This year is by far the best senior farewell I’ve seen since 2000,” Amoroso said.
To end the night, the band MMM Blast, led by Watkins and senior JD Coolican, performed “Seven Nation Army” by The White Stripes, complete with the iconic baseline and gritty vocals. The song had the audience standing throughout the duration, but disappointment shook the crowd when the last notes played and the band walked off stage.
Not wanting the night to end, the seniors started a chant of “one more song,” and the crowd erupted into roars when MMM Blast reappeared after a quick-change into overalls. Watkins announced that they would sing “Revival” by Zach Bryan and urged the audience to sing along if they knew the words. The country song started slower, but built as it approached the chorus, which had the seniors singing, jumping, and clapping to the beat.
“It was a 10/10 night. This was a very great close to a very great year,” Watkins said.
“I loved every act and just the whole spirit of acceptance and support for everyone. Maybe these groups don’t interact a lot on the Green during the school day, but here, everyone is wearing their gowns, everyone is unified,” Otsuka said.
“I think to me this night is about being able to appreciate all of my classmates’ talents, some of which I didn’t know about before today, like I didn’t know Lucas played piano and sang, so that was really cool to see,” Knox said.
The event was a grand success that demonstrated the unity and spirit of the class of ‘25 through talent, song, and dance. “As the year progressed, you could definitely see the senior class grow closer every single week,” senior EB Hoffman, who participated in the Barden Bellas performance, said. “If you are thinking about being in a talent show, do it, it’s so much fun.”
*Lia Lev and Benji Weiss are journalists for the M-A Chronicle
