Veritas Seniors Discover Treasures from their Past

Archway Veritas recently invited the class of 2024 back to open a time capsule that was filled and sealed by the now seniors when they were in the fifth grade. Each student contributed trinkets, photos, books, and letters to their older selves. Eric Twist and Mary Frances Jeffries, previous headmasters for Archway Veritas, also attended and greeted past students who are now nearing the end of their Great Hearts education.

“Your parents are the ones that took a bet on your future to do something really unique, having watched a lot of you go all thirteen years,” said Twist, who was the founding headmaster for Archway Veritas. “The fact of the matter is you’re better educated at this point than most kids coming out of major universities… I can’t wait to see what’s in the time capsule.”

This special graduating class of Veritas Prep also includes scholars who were part of the very first kindergarten class during the academy’s inaugural year, making them the first graduates to receive a complete education, from kinder to twelfth grade at the Great Hearts Veritas campus.

Megan Opitz who serves as the current headmaster at Archway Veritas was the kindergarten teacher for many of these seniors, having begun her Great Hearts teaching career the same year. “This holds a very special place in my heart, being the first class that I had the opportunity to teach here, and it feels really amazing,” she said. “I was lucky enough to get to teach them in kindergarten and then see them in fifth grade.”

Class of 2024 Valedictorian, Kishan Bhatnagar, remembers when he was in fifth grade. “I was like, ‘I’m never going to be a senior That’s so far from now.” But here we are now and we’re opening these things that were really important to us when we were in fifth grade and it’s kind of funny to see that.”

The large carved wooden box was ceremoniously opened before the crowd of seniors and their families, although Opitz did admit to taking a peak beforehand. Names were called one by one as each students’ items were handed out. They were amused and with some items, surprised, as they perused through their treasures from the past.

“There will never be another first class that goes K through 12^th. This is very special,” said senior Isabel Wallace. “Part of me was really happy because I got to see a lot of people I haven’t seen in years and then I got really sad because it’s dawning on me more and more that this is the end of high school and I know that’s happening, but it just fully hit me.”

First K-12 class of 2024 at Veritas Prep. Top Row (left to right): John Paul Wintering, Mason Twist, Giovanni Guido, Henry Rathsburg, Beau Kinerk, Sara Sanfratello, Aidan Robinson, Nicolas Espinosa, Kishan Bhatnagar, Dominic Knoell, Oliver Burch. Middle Row (left to right): Gwen Kainass, Calyn Kinerk, Maddie Lucas, Elizabeth Barney, Christina Mulhern, Geogia Holmes, Isabel Wallace, Claire Weiland, Klara Grabowski, Ethan Strickland, Sam Cuccia. Bottom Row (left to right): Jaz Cobb, Erika Ghassemi, Alexandra Valletta, Dorothy Maafu, Eliana Barrows. Not pictured: Julia Siekmann

“My roots through Archway have really carried me through middle school and high school. It’s just so great to take a look back at what started it all and how that’s led to successes that we’ve had,” said Bhatnagar.

Please join us in congratulating these great-hearted seniors as they graduate and continue to pursue Truth, Goodness, and Beauty beyond their high school careers.

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