Recently there has been much debate in the senior class on whether or not we should have a senior ditch day and a senior prank both in the first and second semester. However enticing this may seem, the downsides to this heavily outweigh any benefits.
Some students have expressed that they’re graduating early and want to experience these senior traditions. Senior ditch day and the senior prank in the past have taken place during second semester, and these activities are some highlights of senior year. Since they will not have a second semester, students that are graduating early want the chance to celebrate their last couple months of high school with their friends and have a “normal” senior experience.
That makes sense. However, there are actually many problems with having activities like the senior prank and the senior ditch day in the first semester. First, they will not be planned by student council, so they will be unorganized and unauthorized. Student council only plans these senior traditions in the spring, so if non-student council members are planning it, they will not receive any form of acknowledgement or approval by staff, which is highly problematic. Obviously, senior pranks are meant to be funny and shock people, but there has to be a level of control over it and things could easily get out of hand if student council is not involved. Senior ditch day also has to be known and accepted to some extent by staff because teachers need to plan their lessons around that. No teacher is going to plan their lesson around a fall semester ditch day, especially if there is another one planned for the spring.
Also, for the majority of seniors, spring semester is more laid back since college decisions have been finalized. Students can enjoy traditions more without the stress of college acceptances. For ditch day, if students have an unexcused absence in the first semester before being accepted to college, depending on the rigor of the college, it could have detrimental effects on their acceptance. Most students cannot take that chance.
Fall semester is also a stressful time for seniors who are applying to colleges—college application deadlines loom October through January. The fall is also academically challenging, and seniors are navigating internal assessments, extended essays, midterms, and preparing for finals week. First semester of senior year is considered the most difficult time of high school due to the intense workload, and with this stress may make it difficult to participate in senior traditions.
Not to mention, having senior traditions twice in each semester is flat out extravagant. Seniors should only get to do them once because they’re meant to be special days. If there are two, they will not hold the same significance.
Finally, the implication of graduating early is that you will miss second semester senior events. It is a given that students graduating early have acknowledged that, and they must understand that they will not have a second semester of senior year. They should be prepared to miss these events as it was their personal decision. As a result, these students will miss out on senior activities that have traditionally taken place at the end of second semester, which are scheduled towards the end of the school year for a reason. It is not logical to try to change senior traditions just so you can enjoy them because that is blatantly just selfish. For the majority of seniors, the end of second semester is stress-free, enabling them to enjoy and become involved in social activities. Traditions should be preserved so they can be celebrated by most of the senior class, and they should not be changed to accommodate a group of students that consciously made a decision to have a shortened senior year.
