As their high school careers come to a close, seniors make the decision between taking a day off of school with the rest of their class or arriving at Staples bright and early in the morning to push through one more day.

All college decisions have come out by early April, so the majority of seniors– excluding those who are on a waitlist– know where they are going to college or what they are doing after their high school careers come to an end. This tends to leave seniors with little academic motivation, and that could entail seniors feeling less of a need to be present in school each and every day. Because of this lack of motivation, senior skip day is a tradition in schools all around the country. It is better to have all of the seniors out of school on one satisfying, celebrated day rather than a handful of seniors ditching school multiple times throughout second semester.

Even students who are still on a waitlist for a college can see senior skip day in a positive light. According to guidance counselor, Kim Curran, a college can only find out changes in the student, including dropped classes or awards, classes that they are failing, and quarter grades. Thus, if a student only misses one day of school for senior skip day, it will be nearly impossible for the colleges to find out. On the other hand, if a student misses numerous random days of school for personal satisfaction, the colleges have a better chance of seeing a drop in quarter grade because of a few missed tests or assignments.

It is crucial to recognize that colleges can’t see absence days. Also, the majority of seniors aren’t close to flunking a class or losing credit for a class. Because of this, for most seniors, it’s not the end of the world to take senior skip day off.

Yet, being absent for too many graduation and internship required classes is a big problem for over 60 seniors, according to assistant principal Richard Franzis. Still, If there was one uniform senior skip day rather than having seniors stay home for scattered days throughout second semester, kids would be missing fewer days of school, and the number of kids appealing credit could be much lower.

The organization of senior skip day is bordering non-existent. Senior skip day tends to be an event organized by word of mouth. There are no Facebook notifications, official dates or mutual decisions made about it.

A couple of seniors decide that there could be a good day to skip and then try to convince friends to join along and to convince their friends in turn, until it is supposedly a never-ending chain. Some seniors end up not knowing about skip day or choosing not to attend for one reason or another. The truth is only about one tenth, according to Franzis, of the senior class this year didn’t show up to school on the senior skip day on April 20.

If senior skip day was more organized and regulated, it could be a never-ending tradition with minimal consequences. Teachers could plan big lessons and tests around senior skip day if the date is decided earlier. This would minimize the damage of a quarter of the Staples population missing a day, and it would keep seniors from missing important academic moments. This solution would keep grades up, classes on schedule and students from having to appeal for credit.

In conclusion, the senior class missing only one day of school together is more satisfying and better for the students than individually missing a few scattered days, but if it continues as a tradition, the organization of the day should be more consistent and coordinated.