Students graduating from Fountain Hills High School this week were likely kindergarteners in the year 2008 (barring skipping a grade or two, of course). To celebrate how far they’ve come these past 13 years, it’s time to look back at some of the landmark events and pop culture trivia from their first year in school.
In January 2008, the Messenger spacecraft performed a flyby of the planet Mercury. The hit show “Breaking Bad” also premiered that month, though it is unlikely any of this year’s graduates tuned in at the time. They also likely paid little attention to Black Monday on Jan. 21, the day the Financial Times Stock Exchange had its biggest ever one-day points fall. In more positive news, Super Bowl XLII was hosted out of Arizona in 2008, with the New York Giants besting the New England Patriots 17-14.
This was also the year the “video format war” came to a close, with Toshiba discontinuing HD DVD to let Sony’s Blu-ray discs lead the way. And speaking of movies, this was the year “No Country for Old Men” won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, though this year’s graduates were likely more interested in the Best Animated Feature Film, “Ratatouille.”
For any wrestling fans in the audience, 2008 was the year Randy Orton bested Triple H and John Cena in a title Triple Threat match at WrestleMania XXIV while, on a completely different note, Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States in the spring.
Still going strong to this day, the Marvel Cinematic Universe officially kicked off with “Iron Man” in May of 2008, followed by Usain Bolt breaking the world record in the 100m sprint at just 9.72 seconds.
The Summer Olympic Games were held in Beijing, China, in 2008, where Michael Phelps went on to claim eight gold medals. In August, Airbnb was officially launched while, at around the same time, Lady Gaga released what would become the Album of the Year, “The Fame.”
This was also the year Barack Obama became the first African American to be nominated for president, a position he went on to win in November. Between those events, the Large Hadron Collider was finally powered up in Geneva, Switzerland, though it did not rip apart time and space, as some had feared. Elon Musk’s SpaceX also launched the first private spacecraft, the Falcon 1, into orbit this year.
Google Play launched in 2008, as did Taylor Swift’s second studio album, “Fearless,” and the first movie in the “Twilight” series.
Now that we’ve had a peek backward, it’s time to look forward. The Times congratulates the graduating class of 2021. We look forward to all of the headline-worthy accomplishments you will have in the years ahead.
