Imagine you have just entered your senior year at Staples. You have worked your way up to varsity after four years of hardwork and dedication to your sport. Walking into the school cafeteria on an early fall morning, you are handed your favorite coffee order from Starbucks, a balloon is tied to your backpack so everyone knows today is your day and most importantly, the underclassman and your fellow teammates and friends are there to celebrate with you.
Each year at Staples, sports teams dedicate one day to commemorate their beloved seniors. The day usually involves a breakfast celebration, specialized t-shirts, gift-giving from underclassmen and other festivities. At the end of the day, there is a home game and often a ceremony where seniors take photos with their families and members of the team.
After COVID-19 made an appearance this past year, many events like senior day have been dramatically changed or even canceled. Sports teams would have to find a new way to conduct their senior days this fall due to new regulations.
Elle Videler, a senior on the volleyball team, describes how Staples volleyball celebrated the seniors last week.
“Despite the fact that we were unable to have a breakfast celebration and had less people attending our game, there wasn’t that much of a difference,” Videler ’21 said. “The underclassman made posters and t-shirts for us, decorated the school, and we still got to take photos with our families.”
Other sports such as field hockey have not yet had their senior days but are making adjustments and planning them accordingly. Ella Williams ’22 describes how field hockey has been doing in this process.
“Although the virus has made things more difficult all around, planning senior day has been going more smoothly than we expected,” Williams said. “We have definitely faced some challenges along the way, but as a team and especially as a player we have all learned to adapt to our new surroundings. We’re all really excited to show our seniors some love next Wednesday.”
The global pandemic will not stop students from making sure their upperclassmen get the recognition they deserve.
“After having so much taken away from our class this year, this felt like a nice distraction from that,” Videler said. “Despite the fact that it’s still occurring, we are adjusting and learning how to still have a good end to our high school experience.”