Every year, there is a day dedicated to seniors to not only close out the year and reward them for their achievements throughout high school but to also congratulate students. Bowie high school has had senior breakfast as an annual tradition since the school was established in 1988. But, this year marks the second official year of senior day. Senior day focuses on recognizing the diligent seniors and providing enjoyable activities for them to participate in throughout the school day.
“Last year two students came up to me because I am the event coordinator on campus that’s in charge of all of the events,” Assistant Principal Hector Munoz said. “They wanted to advocate through me to do more for seniors instead of just having breakfast. Then, students and myself last year proposed a plan to Mr. Robinson and he approved it. Now, this is the second annual year of having activities and expanding senior breakfast to a full day as well.”
Seniors started off their day with getting attendance in their first period classes and then heading to the cafeteria to take part in senior breakfast. Bowie parents and guardians purchased donuts, muffins, tacos, drinks, cookies, and more to be donated for the breakfast celebration. History teacher Alejandro Garcia and the student council helped with the preparations of senior breakfast as well as the clean up. This is the second year students get to participate in other activities other than breakfast.
“Although I wasn’t actually a part of senior day, I still really enjoyed it” student council vice president Hayden Barnett said. “I liked seeing everyone and seeing which college they all planned to go to.”
Before releasing the seniors to the athletic building, seniors Charlotte Hill and Riley Harris asked representatives from all the different organizations, sports, and groups to be able to give a close out talk and acknowledge their successes that came with the year as a way for all the groups to say at least one last thing to their fellow peers.
“Parents and students donated juice boxes as well as money so the student council could spend money for the 650 tacos ordered,” Garcia said. “But, essentially the community always comes through heavily and donates more than we need which is really awesome because when we’re done with it, we let the teachers and staff eat the rest of the food, I love that as well.”
After breakfast, seniors were released to the athletic building to take part in track and field related activities. Inside the gym, students were able to play basketball or sing karaoke. Out on the track were small activities set out for seniors such as ladder toss, tug-of-war, Frisbee, jenga, spikeball, and more. Senior teachers contributed to the organization and ideas for track and field.
“The weather was not very good, which eliminated a lot of outside activities,” Garcia said. “We could probably re-imagine some of these events for next year and figure out how to incorporate those activities during the breakfast so people have more stuff to do once they’re done eating instead of just hanging out for 40 minutes”
At around 1:30 p.m., seniors were sent to the big gym to get a walk-through of their graduation happening in June at Burger Stadium. Academic Director Kaylin Brett and Munoz gave a presentation of the set-up of senior graduation and how to prepare properly for security checks or unexpected weather.
“No disrespect, but I wish Bowie made it more fun,” senior Victoria Vottelerr said. “Senior day had a really weird set-up and administrators said they had an alternate plan if the weather was bad, but it didn’t change. I feel that since we’re seniors we should get something a little more exciting.”
As graduation day approaches in the upcoming month, all seniors received their cap and gown. Students lined up in the big gym while parent volunteers handed out their cap and gowns. This symbolic attire represents years of hard work, growth, and achievements as seniors prepare to transition to the next chapter of their lives.
“Personally I liked the gown and cap handout near the end of the day,” Vottelerr said. “Even though it took awhile, It gave me the chance to be able to talk the other seniors in the gym. Mr. Munoz said we weren’t able to decorate our caps, which was a little disappointing.”
