As the sun set on May 29, State High’s seniors gathered at the South Track to come together one last time before moving on to a new chapter in their lives.
Class of 2026 watched the sun rise on the first day of school, and after completing their last year of high school, the graduating class watched the sunset together.
“I got here like 30 minutes late, but it’s okay because it was in full swing…It’s just really fun, a lot of people are here, and we’re all excited, and that just gets the vibes going,” senior Katherine Maczura said.
The South Track was full of students playing football, spikeball, picnic blankets, and students connecting with each other one last time over simple fun.
“I never realized that we actually had a community. There’s so many different cliques and groups of people, and then all of a sudden over the past couple of weeks…everyone came together, and it genuinely feels like we’re all connected in some sense. I forget that I grew up with a lot of these people,” Tom Zipf said, who is moving away from State College after graduation.
State High’s emphasis on senior events such as ‘Senior Sunset” and “Senior Sunrise” allows the bond between a graduating class to grow deeper.
“I think this is such a spectacular event, and as a teacher, it is so wholesome to see the senior class coming together and experiencing this night all as one. I think this is a really special thing,” social studies teacher Trevor Dietz said, who was supervising the event.
Senior Sunset is an event that happens once in a lifetime for a graduating class. It’s hard not to feel a sense of “magic in the air’ while watching the sunset.
“I think it makes everyone come together under the nostalgia of senior year, and now we’re gonna graduate, so we can all be friends,” senior Liberty Peachey said.
Because of the gravity of Senior Sunset and graduation as a whole, the class of 2026 feels like the walls holding people apart through “cliques” have fallen down.
“I’m just really excited to be able to take pictures with all my friends, knowing this is the last time we’re all gonna be at State High together, and everybody can just come together and play some games and not fight,” Jordan Wilson said.
The looming energy of graduation completely changes the way in which students interact with each other and their school. It brings a sense of appreciation for what once was and what is fleeting.
“I think it helps tie everybody together, and helps reinforce that we are one community, and that you are one class, one student body,” Dietz said.
“It’s something to look forward to at the end of the year, just to bring a class together for one last time before ‘the great separation,’ I think it’s a great closing to the year, it fits the tone perfectly,” Trayce Brennan said.
State High will be a part of the past for this year’s seniors. Senior Sunset is an event that allows students to metaphorically move on from high school.
“I’m just so proud of all the seniors, and getting to see everybody in this moment celebrate the success that you all earned and worked so hard towards is just such a special night,” Deitz said.
