A moment that sticks with me is Dec. 31, 1999. It was my junior year of high school.

My friends and I played cards at one of our houses. Like most young people, we felt invincible. But in the back of our minds, there was the nagging fear of the unknown. What would happen when the clock ticked to midnight? Would the Y2K fears ring true?

Thankfully, the Y2K hysteria subsided, and the world chugged along into a new millennium. A quiet night it was, but many nights since then have not been.

As I reflect on the latest crop of high school students graduating — the Class of 2025 — I am struck by their birth year. Most were born in either 2006 or 2007. In the grand scheme of things, they haven’t seen a lot. The hallmark moments for many of us — JFK’s assassination, Columbine, 9-11 — did not happen during their lives.

But that doesn’t mean they haven’t seen some things.

First, let’s start with COVID. This year’s class was seventh graders in March 2020, when the world shut down. They were mask-wearing eighth graders during the challenging school year of 2020-21.

One of the most difficult times in a person’s development instantly became harder. A time when students are making sense of social structure was jarred, cut off and returned to anything but normal. Anybody who was a student during the COVID era missed out on something, and this year’s graduating class missed out on the middle of their school careers.

By the time they became freshmen, things returned to relative normality, but the scars of a disrupted middle school experience surely lingered.

It wasn’t just COVID that the Class of 2025 has experienced. Right around the time they were born, Apple rolled out its first-generation iPhone. As their parents slowly navigated this new world, the Class of 2025 was some of the first children to fully grow up in the interactive digital era.

The digital revolution is the biggest society changer since the Industrial Revolution, and the Class of 2025 is ground zero in terms of those whose lives have entirely been surrounded by smart, mobile technology.

It also feels like the Class of 2025 was on the front line of a new era of American politics. They were born during the presidency of George W. Bush. As they became toddlers, Barack Obama began the first of his two terms. Sometime through the Bush-Obama-Trump transitions did the predominate American views on politics change. Neighbors disagreeing yet understanding one another turned into neighbors isolating themselves from one another. The us vs. them rhetoric increased into our current modern incarnation that is virtually unrecognizable from the landscape the Class of 2025 was born into.

The Class of 2025 grew up in a world of active shooter trainings, tragic weather moments, and casualty-filled world events.

They also grew up amid great scientific advances, heart-warming stories of humanity, and through technology that allows us all to be more informed and efficient.

They saw triumphs and disappointments. Wins and losses. Progress and roadblocks. Like all classes, they persevered. And like all classes, the future is bright for the Class of 2025, with a lifetime ahead.

Yeah, the Class of 2025 wasn’t around for Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, or the fall of the Berlin Wall. They don’t know what it is like to log on to a computer in amazement for the first time.

But they have seen much, and will continue to. Living representatives of a changed world, the Class of 2025 will set out to change the world, and they will. Students graduating in the coming weeks will become doctors, teachers, and leaders. They will explore new heights. They will grow families that will soon enough walk onto these same stages. They will serve their communities in ways large and small.

Congratulations to the Class of 2025, and those graduating at our local colleges and universities in the coming days. As you can see from the whole of your young lives, there is plenty going on and plenty to tackle in this crazy world we call home.

Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier, Findlay, the Sandusky Register, The Advertiser-Tribune, Tiffin, the Norwalk Reflector and Review Times, Fostoria. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.