Blue and white balloons, streamers, Robeks celebratory smoothies, cakes, “We love our seniors” t-shirts, glitter. What could possibly be wrong with this scenario? According to the administration, a lot.
Principal John Dodig, Head Custodian Horrace Lewis and Athletic Director Marty Lisevick met with several athletic captains from last year to put together a list of rules in order to eliminate Senior Day decoration issues in the future.
The problem with decorations in the past was that they left messes around the school that were not always cleaned up by the students who put them up.
The administration has decided that all decorations need to be housed in the cafeteria. Additionally, posters and decorations are not allowed in any other locations of the school. Only painter’s tape can be hung up on the walls.
Athletic Director Marty Lisevick hopes that these new regulations help.
“I’ve always liked introducing our seniors at their final regular season home games—especially when their parents can attend and enjoy it with them,” Lisevick said. “If everything is done right, Senior Day should be a day where we can honor our senior athletes without disrupting the normal flow of a school day.”
However, varsity field hockey captain Shelby Phares ’13 has a different opinion.
“Senior Day is a day to honor, thank and say goodbye to our beloved seniors, and I just wish that the school would respect this and realize that it is a day where the whole building is decked out in ridiculous decorations,” Phares said. “As long as the team cleans up afterwards, I see no problem in having all the decorations.”
Many students, in addition to Phares, love the spirit that fills the school on Senior Days. However, while Senior Day may be exciting, it is also a lot of hard work for the students in lower grades. Their responsibilities include creating Senior Day shirts, decorating the seniors’ cars, greeting the seniors in the morning when they arrive to school and making speeches at the Senior Day game.
“The juniors completely do it themselves,” volleyball captain Jen Dimitrief ’13 said. “I feel like you work for it junior year and enjoy it senior year.” Varsity field hockey player Elizabeth Coogan ’14 added that for juniors, duties include making sure the shirts are paid for and ordered on time, that the food is all assigned, and that each senior gets an equal number of posters.
Every senior athlete enjoys a different aspect of Senior Day. Soccer captain Siri Andrews ’13 said her favorite part is the excitement.
“I just love when the seniors walk in,” Andrews said. “They are always so genuinely appreciative.”
For field hockey captain Josie Fair ’13, the best part of last year’s Senior Day occurred after the game.
“We were crying because the seniors enjoyed their day so much,” Fair said. “They also didn’t want to leave the field because it was their last home game.”
Besides the occasionally misspelled name on the Senior Day shirt or the Robeks spill on the way into school, Senior Days are usually filled with smiles, food, decorations and appreciation for seniors. However, most junior and senior athletes don’t entirely know about the new Senior Day regulations. These new regulations will not be music to their ears.
“I think there is some regulation with the number of flyers and where flyers can be hung up,” soccer captain Turner Block ’13 said. “I think this is completely stupid.”
Last year, the janitors were told to take down all field hockey and soccer Senior Day decorations if they were not in the cafeteria.
“We had spent days creating the posters, and I came in super early to help decorate the school,” Phares said. “I remember running into the janitor and grabbing the trash bag full of posters and salvaging as many as I could because we also use the posters to hang along the fence by the field.”
Phares believes that this put a damper on the entire Senior Day, a day that is meant to be happy, exciting and all about school spirit.
Whether people know it or not, these Senior Day regulations will go into action this year. Administration hopes that some added regulations will allow the day to run smoothly, keep the school cleaner and continue to keep the Senior Day spirit alive.
