As the Senior Spring season unfolds, the class of 2025 is looking forward to plenty of fun Williston traditions.
Traditions commemorate a class’s high school years spent together and offer a period of reflection and sentimental closure. Fostering camaraderie and community, the senior spring is a time to celebrate fond memories and milestones while looking toward the future. As most academic commitments are satisfied and seniors decide their future homes, senioritis is in full effect. As a school founded on rich history, it is no surprise that Williston has several Senior traditions including, Senior Sunset, Lock-in, Senior Elimination, Prom, and more.
Four-year senior Hadyeh Saborouh looks forward to Senior Sunset and its symbolic significance.
“I’m excited for the Senior Sunset because we started off with the Senior Sunrise and we were all eating donuts, and taking pictures together,” she said.
Opening the academic year in the Fall together on Sawyer for Senior Sunrise, the Class of 2025 will close the year in the Spring with Senior Sunset. It will take place in late Spring, just before graduation, on Sawyer Field, where Seniors will spend their final moments together.
Hadyeh believes it is an opportunity “where we all get to say goodbye, gathered together, and just watch the sunset.”
The setting sun will represent the conclusion of seniors’ high school journeys and mark the start of new beginnings. The field will be filled with spike ball nets and cornhole, along with other fun activities and games organized by Student Council. Drinks, food, and music will be provided.
On the other hand, three-year Senior Alyssa Frazier is most excited about Senior Lock-in.
Senior Lock-in is a notorious Williston tradition. The night after Prom, the seniors head to the Cain Athletic Center where they will (literally) be “locked in” overnight. As underclassmen and faculty are fast asleep, the gym will come to life with inflatable houses and slides, video games, snacks, and more.
Alyssa believes that Lock-in will foster a sense of community and encourage the seniors to form new bonds with different people.
“I think it’ll force everyone to come together and spend time with people you haven’t really spent time with before. It’s sort of one of the last events before graduation … So it’s like the last time for everyone to come together,” she said.
After an endless night of fun, seniors get a designated “Senior Ditch Day,” free from academic commitments and responsibilities.
Another senior tradition to look forward to is Senior Elimination. This is a period when seniors fear to roam around campus freely in the chance that they get attacked by a rubber chicken slingshotted at them. Each participant is assigned a target, who they are tasked to “eliminate.” Each year, there are designated safe zones where students are ensured immunity. Once their target is eliminated, they inherit the eliminated participant’s target, and the last person standing wins. The competition and rivalry in the senior class are always unmatched and truly a highlight of the end of the year.
