Sam Barlow High School ensures its seniors have a special, event-packed year to celebrate their completion of high school. Starting in September and extending until June, seniors have a variety of activities that are unique and exclusive to them. The first event of the year is the Senior Sunrise, which this year took place on September 12. Senior Sunrise is a gathering on the football field with the senior class to watch the sunrise. It symbolizes the beginning of their last year of high school. In contrast, towards the end of the year, on May 14, there is the Senior Banquet and Senior Sunset. The banquet is a semi-formal dinner held to honor the graduating class and is followed by another gathering on the football field, where this time the senior class watches the sunset together. This event symbolizes their final year at this school coming to an end.
A lot of planning goes into the planning of senior events, and seniors in leadership are responsible for the coordination of these events. “For senior events we have to think about what we want to do, if the other seniors would be interested/like it, if there’s food involved what kind of food we want, games/mini events, posters to hang up for seniors to see around the school, and what day we want to do it on,” says senior Sophia West about things that go into the process of planning events like these.. Olivia Howell, another senior in leadership, says that the senior events that they’ve planned have been successful. “So far, it has been great. Senior Countdown has been super fun because people sent in pictures to go on the windows. It was a fun way to incorporate the whole senior class.”
While not necessarily an event, seniors have the opportunity to submit their baby photos in the yearbook. It creates a sort of bittersweetness, seeing the seniors as babies and toddlers in comparison to how grown up they are now, and seniors are the only students who have this opportunity to submit their baby photos for the yearbook. There is also a panoramic photo of the entire senior class that is taken for the yearbook during advisory, and this photo is special because it is the only one where you can see the whole graduating class all together. “About 40 friends and families celebrate their graduation with a Baby Ad,” says yearbook teacher Chris Holzbach. “Fostering, building, and continuing the relationships with students and their families is my favorite part of taking photos,” he says. Holzbach attends nearly all school events and documents them by taking many photos.
One of the most popular and celebrated events is Senior Prom. It is the seniors’ last opportunity to attend a high school dance, and it is very well attended by the senior class. This year’s prom was held on April 11, with the theme Under Lilac Skies. Sophia West was asked about attending certain senior events, some of which she said were more fun than others, but she states, “During prom, though, it was really good. The theme was very nice, as were the decorations!” Many seniors go all-out for their last prom and really make memories. “Most seniors attend, so we all get to be together at the same time and just enjoy our last moments being seniors in high school, not really caring about who we are friends with and who we aren’t. We just come together and make the most of it,” says Sophia West.
Throughout the year, the senior events are fairly well attended. “It varies based on the event. Prom is around 600, but Sunrise and Sunset are more like 200. Most seniors are excited and happy to celebrate.” Says April Anderson, head of leadership. On the seniors’ very last day of high school, June 2, there is an awards ceremony held by the school to recognize seniors for their accomplishments throughout high school. After the awards ceremony, the seniors have their grad walk through the high school, the middle school, and the elementary school. This is a very sentimental event for all of the seniors as they get to walk through the hallways of all of the schools they’ve previously attended and made so many memories at one last time, before they go their separate ways to college.
The very last high school event for seniors is their long-awaited graduation. Graduation this year will be on June 9, 8:30 pm at the Memorial Coliseum. This is what all of the seniors have been waiting for and worked hard towards for all of high school, and many seniors have mixed and bittersweet feelings towards graduation. “I am really excited to graduate and move on to the next chapter of my life. College will definitely be a lot different than high school, so that’s a little nerve-racking, but other than that, I am ready to move forward,” explains Sophia West. When the seniors walk across the stage, their high school years are now finally over, and with the conclusion of that event, they are officially onto the next stage of their lives.
