According to the government, childhood ends with high school. Eighteen-year-olds are legally accountable, autonomous beings. Every year nationwide, graduates are released to adult lives of minor triumphs and major disappointments that spread before them like a banquet of time. How do we prepare for the implications of total freedom?
We celebrate.
The tradition starts quietly. Seniors choose a day— in the class of 2024’s case, Friday the 15th— and gather in the darkness. Slowly, the sky brightens until they stand blinking at the late-summer sun… in theory. This year, the grass was wet with dew, and the sun emerged half an hour after the weather app promised. Wide-eyed wonder was more comparable to nap time in warm cars. Then three delegations volunteered to purchase breakfast. The remaining seniors hunkered in their lounge and nibbled on bagels and donuts until homeroom began.
Yet another senior tradition is quickly approaching: Picture Day. Because seniors have professional portraits in the Yearbook, Picture Day is a chance to have fun with the required photo-op. A September 21st poll decided this year’s theme is pigtails. In other words, every senior will cheekily fasten her hair in a distractingly playful style for the day. The vote, mind you, wasn’t unanimous— bald caps, miniature tiaras, and more were bypassed in favor of the classic pigtail.
To round off their high school experience, some schools have introduced a cousin to the Senior Sunrise. Its name is Senior Sunset, and it is nearing daily. Sooner than many would like to admit, the day will come when our childhoods are behind us. High school will be relegated to memories that, like the sun, inevitably fade. Until then, we intend to make the most of our remaining months. We raise our 40-ounce Stanley’s in brave testament to our education, experiences, and the years to come.
