Senior year is filled with so many memories. It’s the real ‘lasts’ you are going to have of your high school career. With the last two months of school being jam packed with so many senior events, most of us cannot even keep up. But with many of our seniors trying to get their last squeeze out of high school it can also cause some unwanted drama between the school and its seniors. But we all want to have fun and get all our last experiences until the time runs out and we are walking across that graduation stage grabbing our diplomas.
Water wars is a long-standing tradition the senior class gets to participate in every year. Many dream of being a part of this competition since their freshman year. This non-school sanctioned event has caused drama and confusion every year and this year is no exception. From the threats of calling the cops from Chick-Fil-A and Publix this year’s Water Wars has been a rollercoaster. Chick-Fil-A and Publix has been the hotspot to get points in water wars this year. Leading to these business chains getting upset and threatening our seniors with the addition of law enforcement. On top of all that drama the rules of locations in the game have changed and they are not allowed. But overall making Water Wars harder to participate in.
These changes in the rules for the game were unnecessary and brought down the fun of the game. But the tradition still lives on because many of our seniors signed up to play for 1,080 dollars cash. But the drama with who runs the account and the validity of the game brings a bad name to the already bad reputation water wars has. You wonder why the water wars account’s bio reads “Not affiliated with Wharton High School or SGA,” because the school and the school’s student government do not want to be connected to the controversy that seems to follow water wars every year.
On top of the exciting tradition of water wars, the seniors get what is called a grad bash. This is where a selected theme park picked by our student government shuts itself down for the graduating class and the seniors get to roam around the park until midnight. This is one of the events seniors look forward to all year long. But one main disappointment of the day is that it is at Busch Gardens. Many have been disappointed in the last couple of years because of the switch from Universal to Busch Gardens. There is even a rumor going around that we have been banned from going to Universal for grad bash. Many have even abstained from going to Grad Bash because of the theme park. The senior sponsor Dr. Crawford had to extend the deadline for Grad Bash forms because many did not want to waste their own time and money.
On May 13 the seniors get a senior sunset that is hosted at the football field to celebrate the year the seniors have had. The tradition is to wear merch from the college you are going to. This is an amazing event that accompanies the event seniors get at the start of the year, senior sunrise, where the seniors get to wear and decorate crowns. With senior sunset coming up in the next month, seniors are getting ready to celebrate their high status and show off which college they have committed to.
The last couple of events the seniors get at the end of the year are prom, senior awards, and graduation. This year’s prom is masquerade ball themed, and many people were ecstatic to hear a theme that has not been trending or overused, like themes that have been previously used. Senior awards are coming up, which is an event some look forward to and some do not, depending on if you are nominated for any of the categories. This event gives the seniors a chance to dress up and be awarded for the four years of hard work they have put in. And it all ends with the rewarding diploma that gets put into the hands of the class of 2025.