senior banquet

Forget the Oscars. Linden High Schoolโ€™s Class of 2025 handed out the real awards on June 13โ€”like ๐™ˆ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™–๐™œ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ช๐™จ ๐™‡๐™–๐™ช๐™œ๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™จ๐™ฉ ๐˜พ๐™ค๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š โ€”as they gathered at The Westwood in Cranford for a glamorous night of glitz, gossip, and just a pinch of senior-year flair.

๐“๐ข๐ฆ๐ž-๐ก๐จ๐ง๐จ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐“๐ซ๐š๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง

The annual senior superlatives, a time-honored Linden tradition going back generations, gave students one last chance to crown their class royaltyโ€”with zero campaign speeches, talent rounds, or awkward interviews required.

For each superlative, students voted for one male and one female classmate to take home the title, celebrating the boldest, brightest, funniest, and most fabulous personalities from both sides of the aisle.

Adding to the nightโ€™s sparkle were several ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐ž๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฌ who came to celebrate alongside the students, including ๐™Ž๐™ช๐™ฅ๐™š๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐˜ฟ๐™ง. ๐˜ผ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฎ๐™– ๐™”. ๐™‹๐™š๐™ง๐™ ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™จ, ๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™–๐™ง๐™™ ๐™‘๐™ž๐™˜๐™š ๐™‹๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™ž๐™™๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ก๐™–๐™ฎ๐™จ๐™ž๐™– ๐™๐™๐™ค๐™ข๐™–๐™จ, ๐˜ฝ๐™ค๐™–๐™ง๐™™ ๐™ˆ๐™š๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™ง๐™จ ๐˜ผ๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ค๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ฉ๐™ฉ๐™š ๐™‹๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ค ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™†๐™ž๐™ข๐™—๐™š๐™ง๐™ก๐™ฎ ๐™๐™ก๐™ก๐™ž๐™จ๐™จ๐™š, ๐™‹๐™ง๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™–๐™ก ๐˜พ๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™ก๐™š๐™จ ๐™†๐™ค๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ค๐™ฉ๐™๐™š๐™ง ๐™๐™ž๐™œ๐™ ๐™จ๐™˜๐™๐™ค๐™ค๐™ก ๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™™๐™š๐™ง๐™จโ€”each offering cheers, smiles, and well-wishes to the graduating class.

And the WINNERS are...

๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—น๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ด๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—น๐—ฑ

๐™ˆ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง ๐™Ž๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™Ž๐™๐™š๐™ฎ๐™ก๐™– ๐˜พ๐™–๐™ก๐™ฎ were voted the dream team most likely to shake things up on a global scale. Whether they run for office or revolutionize science, their classmates believe the world better brace itself.

๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—น ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜

๐™…๐™ค๐™จ๐™š ๐™๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™จ ๐™…๐™ง. ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ซ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ ๐™‹๐™š๐™ง๐™š๐™ž๐™ง๐™– didnโ€™t just wear orange and blackโ€”they were orange and black. From pep rallies to hallway energy boosts, their school pride was legendary.

๐—•๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฃ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†

๐™Ž๐™š๐™—๐™–๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™๐™ž๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™๐™ค๐™Ÿ๐™–๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™…๐™ค๐™–๐™จ๐™๐™ก๐™š๐™ฎ ๐˜ผ๐™ง๐™–๐™˜๐™๐™š brought charm, positivity, and โ€œgood vibes onlyโ€ to the Class of 2025. They could turn any Monday into a good day.

๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—™๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ

Style icons ๐™๐™ž๐™˜๐™๐™–๐™ง๐™™ ๐™‡๐™ช๐™œ๐™–๐™ง๐™™๐™ค ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ˆ๐™–๐™˜๐™ ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฏ๐™ž๐™š ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ก๐™–๐™ฏ๐™–๐™ง never met a mirror they didnโ€™t loveโ€”or a hallway that didnโ€™t double as their personal runway.

๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—”๐˜๐—ต๐—น๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ฐ

From game-winning plays to sprinting through gym class like it was the Olympics, ๐™’๐™–๐™ง๐™ง๐™š๐™ฃ ๐™…๐™š๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™‰๐™š๐™ž๐™ ๐™– ๐™ˆ๐™ž๐™˜๐™๐™š๐™ก made sweat look cool.

๐—•๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐——๐˜†๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐——๐˜‚๐—ผ

Besties ๐™”๐™–๐™จ๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ๐™š๐™จ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜ฟ๐™š๐™ฃ๐™–๐™š ๐™‚๐™ง๐™ž๐™›๐™›๐™ž๐™ฃ were practically telepathic. Always in sync, always laughingโ€”these two could finish each otherโ€™s sentences (and snacks).

๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต

If you ever heard ๐™…๐™–๐™ฌ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐™‡๐™š๐™š ๐™ค๐™ง ๐™‡๐™š๐™ž๐™ก๐™–๐™ฃ๐™ž ๐™Š๐™˜๐™–๐™จ๐™ž๐™ค ๐˜พ๐™ช๐™š๐™ซ๐™–๐™จ laugh, chances are you laughed tooโ€”and had no idea why. Their giggles were pure happiness on loudspeaker.

๐—–๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป

๐™…๐™ค๐™จ๐™š ๐™๐™ช๐™š๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™š๐™จ ๐™…๐™ง. ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™”๐™–๐™จ๐™ก๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™๐™š๐™ฎ๐™š๐™จ had one goal: keep the class entertainedโ€”and judging by the votes, mission accomplished. Who needs stand-up when youโ€™ve got these two?

๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ข๐˜‚๐˜๐—ด๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด

No one was safe from a warm smile and a big โ€œHey!โ€ from ๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™š๐™ญ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™๐™š๐™ง ๐˜ผ๐™ช๐™œ๐™ช๐™จ๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™€๐™ก๐™š๐™ญ๐™ž๐™– ๐™๐™ช๐™ž๐™ฏ. They made every hallway feel like a red carpet.

๐—•๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—ฆ๐—บ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ฒ

๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ฏ๐™ค ๐™Ž๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฉ๐™ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™˜๐™ ๐™ฎ ๐™๐™ง๐™ž๐™œ๐™ค๐™จ๐™ค could brighten a room just by walking in. Their smiles had that magical ability to make teachers forget about homework.

๐—•๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—–๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ -- A tie

In a rare twist of romance, the vote ended in a tieโ€”because how could the class possibly choose between J๐™…๐™ช๐™ก๐™ž๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™‚๐™ช๐™š๐™ซ๐™–๐™ง๐™– & ๐™ˆ๐™ฎ๐™– ๐˜ฝ๐™š๐™–๐™ฃ ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐˜พ๐™–๐™ง๐™ก๐™ค๐™จ ๐˜พ๐™ช๐™—๐™ž๐™ก๐™ก๐™ค๐™จ & ๐™…๐™–๐™จ๐™จ๐™š๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™š ๐™Ž๐™–๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ก? Both couples gave us serious #relationshipgoals

The superlatives may have been lighthearted, but they carried the weight of real appreciation, connection, and Linden pride. The banquet wasnโ€™t just a chance to celebrateโ€”it was a night to reflect, laugh, and say one final โ€œwe made itโ€ before graduation.

Sure, there were no gold statues or red carpetsโ€”but with unforgettable memories, inside jokes, and some seriously well-earned bragging rights, Lindenโ€™s Class of 2025 walked away with something even better: a moment in the spotlight before the tassels turn and real life begins.

๐ŸŽ“ Next stop? June 24 at Tiger Stadium. Graduation awaits. And yesโ€”this class is ready.