While activities director David Bones couldn’t recall the exact date the Senior Week tradition began, he felt that it was important for seniors to spend time with their friends before leaving high school.
Senior Week has “always been based on the idea that there’s time prior to graduation to have some events and activities to share one last time before they go off in their exciting, but different directions after graduation,” Bones said. “I think it’s important because you guys have been together, I mean, not obviously just as a class, but some friendships have grown over twelve years of public schooling and, at the very least, three years at Rock Bridge.”
According to senior guidance counselor Melissa Coil, however, the motivations behind Senior Week weren’t just to give the upperclassmen time to reminisce with their peers. Coil pointed out the dual reasons for having school-sponsored activities in the days leading up to graduation.
“I think it’s an opportunity for seniors to get together and enjoy time with one another as a last hurrah,” Coil said. “Part of it is, too, that the hope is, a little bit, that if we sponsor these events as a school that maybe some of the mischievous acts that seniors like to bring won’t be quite as mischievous.”
Though Coil wishes the activities would prevent pranks, senior Chris Sovich thought of Senior Week as a chance to be remembered by underclassmen for outlandish jokes and last-minute tomfoolery.
It’s about “spending the last moments with your friends who are about to go to college, but also doing a bunch of senior pranks around the school,” Sovich said. “It’s the last thing for the sophomores and juniors to remember you by.”
Senior Olivia Zhang, however, didn’t view her last week as a chance for pranks. To her, Senior Week was a meaningful tradition that allowed her to connect with her friends before they left for their post-high school plans.
“We don’t know where everyone is going to go, school-wise or anywhere. Everybody is going to be going their own paths and I think Senior Week is there to celebrate all the years that we’ve been together because I definitely know I’ve been with some of these people since kindergarten and leaving is really hard,” Zhang said. “Everybody’s leaving and it’s our final chance to spend time together. ”
By Kira Lubahn
