Senior year marks the end of high school and for many students, a year of fun traditions to be a part of with friends. Many students get caught up in applying for colleges, taking their ACT, or stressing about their futures. While senior year is a year to prepare for college, it is also a time to have fun with friends before they move onto their next chapter.
Many traditions seniors participate in involve the whole grade. One of these traditions is senior sunrise. Seniors gather on the Liberty football field at the beginning of the school year to watch the sun come up as they take pictures with their friends.
Brynn Davis (she/her), 12, was the coordinator of senior sunrise and sunset. She thought that everyone had a great time getting together as a whole grade.
“Senior sunrise was super fun,” Davis said. “We got to make posters ahead of time to have photo collages and it was fun to see everyone there and get everyone together before the first day of school.”
A different trend that some of the Liberty seniors decided to participate in was wearing senior backpacks. These are backpacks seniors wear of cartoon characters, Disney princesses or any other character from a show that the seniors liked when they were kids.
These backpacks can be seen as a nostalgic full-circle moment, as one leaves senior year in a backpack that is similar to when one entered kindergarten/pre-school.
Brooke Bernhard (she/her), 12, participated in this tradition, wearing a backpack with her favorite cartoon on it.
“I wore a senior backpack because I think it is a fun way to remember when we were little kids,” Bernhard said. “We had fun backpacks of our favorite shows and movies which were cute.“
Seniors can often be seen posting their senior pictures on Instagram or other social media platforms. Some of these senior pictures include them with their cap and gown, college t-shirt and group pictures with their friends. Senior pictures can be seen as celebrating a milestone in one’s life and sharing it with their family and peers.
“I am taking senior pictures with my friends because it’ll be cool to look back on in a few years and remember this is who I was friends with in high school,” Bernhard said. “It will be a fun way to reminisce about these times.”
Seniors also decorate personal belongings to commemorate their last year of high school. Throughout the Liberty parking lot, cars can be seen decorated with paint. They sometimes have little sayings on them, or just “senior, class of ‘26.” Another item that is often decorated is jeans or overalls. Seniors wear them to Friday Night Lights (FNL) or to the first/last day of school.
“We went to one of our friends’ houses the night before school started and we took paint markers and decorated our cars which we thought was so fun,” Davis said. “We also did senior jeans the week before the first day of school, so we could wear them on the first day. Also, we recently did a grad photo shoot where we wore them, and then also planning on wearing them for the last day of school.”
Senior Assassin is another way that the senior class can get together. Senior Assassin is a game where seniors try to eliminate their target, who is a fellow senior, by squirting them with a water gun. There are various rules, such as immunity when wearing a floatie or googles, among others. The winner of the senior assassin gets the pooled money that was paid by the other seniors to enter the game.
“I participated in senior assassin this year,” Davis said. “It was very interesting to say the least. It didn’t last very long and everyone was hoping it would’ve lasted longer than what it did. But it was fun while it was happening and was a great way to get everyone in our grade together.”
As a student gets older, they don’t spend as much time in the school. They normally get more open periods and leave school often. Seniors have many open periods, with some seniors only having one class at the high school. This can sometimes be hard because seniors don’t see their friends around school as much.
“In my first three years of high school; freshman, sophomore and junior years I had a full schedule, so I was here from 8:30 [a.m.] to 4:00 [p.m.], ” Davis said. “Then this year I only had a second and a third [period]. So I’ve only been here for about an hour and a half which is a really big change. I don’t really know how I did high school the first three years the entire day, but it’s been nice to have more of an open campus feel.”
These traditions mean a lot to seniors. Without traditions like these, senior year would feel the same as any other school year. Senior year brings the whole grade together before they all leave high school.
“Senior traditions are kind of like a right of passage for seniors,” Bernhard said. “It’s a way to make senior year fun and not sad or boring, while also being together one final time.“
Davis also agrees with this, saying that if they didn’t have these traditions, senior year wouldn’t feel like as much of a community as it should.
“Senior year traditions just really bring everyone together,” Davis said. “Through the years people kind of just come and go through life and have different friends. But senior year, right off the bat starting with senior sunrise, it really brings everyone back together again and makes people realize that we only have a year left together. We then all go our separate ways, so we have to enjoy the moments we are in now.”
The last day for seniors is Friday, May 29, and their graduation ceremony will follow on Sunday, May 31 at Xtreme Arena.
