CLASS OF 2000 LOOKS INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL SENIORS AT HART HIGH SCHOOL SEE PIVOTAL ROLE AS SENTINELS FOR NEW MILLENNIUM.

Byline: Daily News

Santa Clarita's high school seniors, the Class of 2000, were asked for their feelings on the dawn of the new millennium, their dreams and their thoughts on their place in this new age. Seniors at Hart High School in Newhall took the challenge and their essays will be published through this New Year's weekend.

LAURIN MANSFIELD

The year 2000 is creeping up on us. Everyone has different views about what will happen at the millennium. Some believe that the world will end or go into total chaos, while others believe that they will have far better things to worry about than the numbers on the calendar changing. For us, the graduating class of 2000, we have an entirely different set of worries.

Seniors around the world will be the new generation in a new millennium. We will be starting out the next 1,000 years in time. We will set the standards and point the way in which the future will go. Our class is going to be the first set of adults at the start of a new era. That's a lot of pressure.

What we decide to do, the trends we decide to set and attitudes we portray will be reflected onto the generations to come. Our great-grandchildren will read in their history books about how there was a scare that on Jan. 1, 2000, all of the computers in the world would become useless and send the balance of everything into a downward spiral. They called it Y2K. They will learn about the first woman president, or maybe first contact with life on another planet.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's all up to us. Everyone is going to look back and see what made their world the way it is in the year 3000. We are going to start off the future of the world and set the environment for what the world will come to be like. People will follow in our footsteps and look back on the moments we shared and the history that we created. Much like we look back at the explorers who discovered America, or the men who wrote the Constitution.

I'm not too frightened about all of ``The End is Near'' stuff, but it's hard to swallow the pressure of starting a whole new world. Every move we make, and all of the trouble that we get ourselves into will not only affect us, it could change the way things will be. We could be looked upon as the most important generation that was ever in existence. Who knows what will happen? I just hope we can do a good job.

BRITTNEY POTES

With the millennium just around the corner, new dreams, thoughts, concerns and visions are brought about. The world is looking toward the class of 2000 to reflect the millennium. When I step into adulthood, as a reflection of the class of 2000, I feel my dreams have to be brighter and bolder to prove former generations wrong.

The millennium will be my leap into adulthood. My life will just be beginning when the ball drops, not ending like some extremists think.

The new millennium will bring new life for me. I plan to go to college, then somewhere in the next century I plan on getting married and having a family.

Making a difference should be everyone's goal in the class of 2000. We are the future and the world is on our shoulders. If we all did one nice act a day, the world would not be so hateful. The difference starts with us and with the new millennium we have a fresh start.

As a whole, in the world we all need to begin and make a difference for the next hundred years. This millennium we, the youth, need to share our dreams, thoughts, concerns and visions. As we enter adulthood, we need to make a difference and express our dreams in a peaceful ways.

ROBERT HATFIELD

As the class of the new millennium, we leave high school at the dawn of a new 1,000 years. There are not only concerns about what life will be like for us in general, but how the country and the world will react to the new conditions presented to it.

The new year presents many expectations and also many fears. In addition to these is the range of hopes and dreads we all experience when leaving the security of our parents and the school system we've become accustomed to, only to strike out on our own in a new, yet familiar world. For some of us, it means leaving for college across the country or down the street. Others may need to find work, and for those of us who have work already we may need to find new and better work.

I'm looking forward to going to an art college. If things work out, I'm going to try for an animation career. I have notebooks full of ideas that I would love to see come to life. Fortunately, my parents are determined to help me see that day and are willing to give financial aid. An added plus is that major producers of cartoons and video games are looking for animators and character developers, both of whom pay healthy salaries.

I'm not too worried about the whole Y2K craze that seems to have gripped the country. The thing that scares me is that people might start freaking out and go on a killing or looting spree. Overreacting is a better way of putting it. There is no real difference between next year and this one, it's all in peoples' heads. Other than that, I hold no fear of what may come my way in the road of life. Of course, there are bound to be speedbumps, but they're just tests of one's character, all just part of growing up.