to give up inspired me to join with him,” said Nguyen. “I continued track because I love the physical aspect of it, pushing your body to its limits alongside other incredibly dedicated and driven people.” Wins and losses aside, what he likes most about being a part of the team is in seeing his teammates improve. “My favorite part of track is seeing my hard-working teammates’ efforts pay off,” says Nguyen. “As captain, I try to do as much as I can to help my teammates fix their technique during practice. Seeing everyone’s improvement through the course of the season brings me indescribable joy.”
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By Levi Livengood Two traditions, Senior Ditch Day and Senior Prank, have been expressly forbidden by school officials for the Class of 2019. This was confirmed in a letter sent to the parents of Seniors by Principal Berg on March 7.
Senior Ditch Day is a practice in some schools that has been happening since the 1970s where Seniors “ditch” all their classes. Similarly, Seniors will often prank their school toward the end of the year in many countries. Sometimes these pranks are harmful and schools take action to prevent them. “There are no school-sanctioned “ditch” days. Students with excessive absences or who participate in “ditch” days may lose their senior privileges,” writes Principal Berg, threatening to prevent students who participate from going to Prom, the Senior Picnic, Honor Night, and even Graduation. He adds, “There will be no toleration of pranks that involve damage to school property, personal property, or disrespect or damage to anyone.” After four years of high-school, the least we deserve is a little break from the monotony of school life. One could argue that Senior Privileges are precisely that, but Senior Ditch Day and Senior Prank are very widespread traditions, even being practiced in the United Kingdom and Australia. If the school wants to prevent unnecessary damage to their property then so be it. Pranks that result in property damage or lawsuits are not really pranks at all and are more akin to torture. Hopefully some Senior Prank will be permitted. Ditch Day is a little different. The school argues that allowing for students to skip school goes against one of the important things they push, namely attendance. Nonetheless, I think that unless the School District is breathing down the school officials’ necks based on the amount of hours every student is in school, seniors should get a day off. They get the time to do something important that they would have had to do another day like financial aid, or they might get the time necessary to relax and enjoy a moment of peace before graduation. Regardless, if the school wants to restrict certain activities in order to maintain their regimen, so be it. That is their prerogative after all. But I think that as seniors, we could use that little time to do something productive, or to blow off steam. |
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