![SNAP HAPPY Recording on a GoPro for social media, senior Sam Mellon has recently started a weekly sports podcast. “[Senior] Brendan Feeney and I have been talking about doing a sports podcast forever. We love talking about sports and we just grabbed [senior] Will Hanas and went along with it,” Mellon said.](https://mhsnews.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/sam-892x1200.png)
Yesterday in the auditorium, the first Last Lecture was given. The idea of the “last lecturer” originated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the time, computer science professor Randy Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In 2007, he gave his last lecture to his class because he knew that he only had a few months to live. His lecture was turned into the book, “The Last Lecture,” and gained a lot of attention.
“It’s a nice way for students to be able to decide who they want to hear from,” senior class sponsor Leigh Ann Westland said.
Westland brought the idea up to Mrs. McKeever and it was soon approved by Mr. Nolan.
“And then I brought it up to Mr. Nolan in the fall, and he’s like ‘Awesome, let’s do it,” Westland said. “So he was really supportive.”
This event is hoped to become a tradition for seniors in the years to come.
“I think it’d be a really fun thing,” Westland said. “Everybody works so hard. You seniors work so hard, all this AP testing for two weeks. I just think it’s a fun way to do something special, something motivational.”
A senior breakfast was also held before the lecture. Senior parents and PTO members donated grab and go breakfast items.
Along with breakfast, a senior signout video was played before the lecture. The video was created by junior Bella Isa and made during the Senior Banquet.
“Making the senior sign out video brought together a lot of students, and it was really nice seeing everyone excited when they saw it,” Isa said. “I felt stressed while making it because there was a lot to organize and put together, but at the same time it felt meaningful knowing it was something the seniors would remember.”
The Last Lecturer was the last event seniors experienced together before graduation.
“I want them [seniors] to get excited to kind of hear one last motivational, inspirational speech from somebody that they want to hear from, and just be able to do something special that is not in the regular day that none of the other grades get to do,” Westland said.
