On Aug. 27, hundreds of senior class members gathered at 6 A.M. on North Field to watch the sunrise. Along with the rose gold sky, nostalgia was also in the air for the students’ last year.
“I was really looking forward to [the sunrise], I think it’s really the captivating moment where you realize you’re a senior,” senior Inhye Sung said. “And your life is almost approaching you.”
For the class of 2025, the first-day sunrise was when they truly started feeling the “beginning of the end.” But although they enjoyed it, not all students were anticipating the moment like Sung.
“[I wasn’t really looking forward to it], it wasn’t that appealing — like I wanted to do it, but it wasn’t like I needed to,” senior Claire Heaney said.
The sunrise is also a time for students to take pictures with their friends to capture their final high school year together. Many enjoyed this as a group activity, together with members of sports teams or clubs.
“I took pictures with Milli [Mortensen], Garrett [Flickinger], the Watschke twins, some with Indy Ortiz, it was just a big fun group,” Sung said.
Although fun, students agreed that the value wasn’t only in the sky and the photo ops. “It’s definitely the community gathering that is happening, and to expand upon our experiences, and being able to tie in with our close classmates,” Sung said. “It’s really important to have that connection and the Senior Sunrise is just that.”
Senior Vincent LaFrazza-Schwartz agreed, mentioning that it was last year the class would all be as one. “It’s good because it builds community, especially in such an important year where we’re going to all go off in different directions,” LaFrazza-Schwartz said. “It’s good to see how far we’ve all come together.”
As their school year begins, seniors also look forward to the numerous future activities, ranging from creating senior boxes and scrapbooks to prom.
“I’m really looking forward to going back to my elementary school after I graduate,” LaFrazza-Schwartz said, referring to the tradition where the graduating class visits the schools where they began their SCASD journeys, seeing familiar faces and classrooms.
The beginning of the year sunrise activity has a flip at the end of the year — Senior Sunset, held on the last day of school for the graduating class of about 600 students.
