Senior Week
One of the few things seniors look forward to all year has officially come and gone, SENIOR WEEK!
“It is a week of organized events to celebrate the graduating class,” says Senior Class president Grace Marro.
This year, the class of 2016 kicked off Senior Week with a field trip to Zoo Miami on Tuesday January 19th and watched Southpaw in the school cafeteria later that night.
Wednesday January 20th featured the Senior Breakfast at Miami Shores Country Club with Karaoke Night in the school theater right after school.
On Thursday, the seniors dressed up as senior citizens and had a Fun Fest on the P.E. field during the last block of the day. The week wrapped up on Friday, January 22nd, with Glow Fest, a dance held in the cafeteria at 7 p.m.
Seniors had their reasons for participating in Senior Week. For Lilia Lorenzo, it was a chance to be with her class and spend time with her senior friends.
Kimberly Gonzalez said, “I wanted to be able to create unforgettable memories with my closest friends.”
LeeAndrew Morales said, “It’ll be something to get my mind off of school work, and it’s also a reminder that we have a limited number of weeks left with each other.”
According to activities director Ms. Rivero, 164 students and 11 chaperones attended the Senior Breakfast, and 174 seniors and 10 chaperones went on the field trip to the zoo. About 40 students attended Movie Night, about 30 to Karaoke Night, and around 130 students went to Glow Fest.
Although some senior week events were free, the breakfast and field trip were not. A special Senior Package, which went on sale for two weeks, was $210 for prom, Grad Bash, Senior Breakfast and the senior field trip. “Individually, the breakfast was $30, and the field trip was $15,” said class treasurer Flavia Trujillo.
Some students were prohibited from participating in some Senior Week activities because they did not complete all the requirements which included being cleared for graduation, taking either the SAT or the ACT, completing their community service project, finishing virtual school, not missing any credits, and having their parents attend Senior Parent Night. Also, seniors had to make sure they did not owe any fees to the treasurer’s office.
Jason Cubas says, “I really wanted to go to the field trip and breakfast but couldn’t get cleared in time.” Edgar Santiago says that the deadlines to turn in the money came too quickly for him to meet. Matthew Espinoza didn’t think the prices were worth the activities.
Choosing Senior Week events was a process. “The officers and advisor all sat down and decided if they wanted to keep the same events from the year before or change it up,” said Grace Marro.
For some, Glow Fest was their favorite part of the week. Scarlet Garcia says, “Glow Fest was the first time I actually had fun at a school event and it was cool how Class of ’16 officers decorated the whole place.”
Raquel Espinoza liked how the Glow Fest was glow in the dark and that a lot of people showed up and showed their spirit.
Randy Lopez loved the music the DJ played. “It made the night ten times better,” he said.
Others preferred their trip to the zoo. Chantell Santana liked how she got the freedom to roam around, and how she got to feed giraffes while hanging out with her friends. Cristal Cruz said, “I finally got to see tigers, and cross it off of my bucket list.” Luis Charles said, “The cold plus being with just my friends made the zoo the most enjoyable event. When I’ve gone to the zoo before, it is usually blazing hot and crowded.”
However, there were some complaints. Anastasia Padron didn’t like the games they had at the Fun Fest. Steve Gutierrez said, “Senior Citizen Day was pretty weak and boring. I don’t even know why that was a part of our Senior Week.” Jorge Mosqueda wished that he was able to roam around the Miami Shores Country Club during the Senior Breakfast instead of being restricted to the room they were in.
How did this year’s Senior Week compare to others? Ms. Rivero sees it as an improvement. “We actually did all the major events (breakfast and field trip) in one week as opposed to spreading it out like we have in the past,” she said.