Seniors’ reactions and questions to Senior Events

Amelie Pineda

After a year filled with uncertainty, the events planned to celebrate seniors have been confirmed. Seniors and their parents/guardian(s) have received emails regarding details of the events. It was a very relieving moment for many seniors. 

Vivian Zhao said, “I was pretty excited when I first read it despite how things have to be because of COVID. This school year has been very stagnant and routinely that thinking about attending these special activities in person with fellow classmates made me perk up.” However, the news was disappointing for some seniors. 

Samantha Henry was disappointed about a few events such as the replacement of a senior breakfast with a 21% discount at Brunch Cafe without input from all seniors. “I know that many of these decisions were district-wide and had no affiliation with Conant individually, but I am appalled at how we made it to April before being updated in any way,” Henry said. “Regardless of what decisions are made, there is no reason we couldn’t have been brought along for the ride throughout the process.”

Assistant Principal and Activity Director Mark Langer explained that COVID-19 guidelines and information from senior listening sessions impacted their decision. “At the time, the decision to not do Senior Breakfast was made in part because it would be under the same guidelines as other senior events with no more than 50 allowed in a room. There was very little interest in our listening sessions from seniors for this event to take place with those guidelines. The discount is something that our Student Council worked on to secure as a bonus for our seniors.” 

The most recent news was the change of the graduation from a drive-in format to a more traditional, indoor ceremony. Like many others, Sarah Taucher was glad to hear the news. “I was super excited when I received the update as was my family because this makes graduation a bit closer to normal!” she said. “I trust that the school can plan a safe and special event to end our school year on a high note!” 

Zhao asked whether the class will still be separated into two groups and have two different ceremonies. “If we do in fact move inside, it will be a single graduation ceremony,” Langer explained. “We will only split into two different ceremonies at two different times if we cannot move inside.” What is being planned for right now is a single ceremony at 7 pm in the NOW Arena. 

There was some confusion between seniors regarding how the senior parade will be held. “The senior parade is kind of two separate events,” Langer clarified. “There will be the car parade that will be similar to last year’s event, minus driving through the actual stadium and no “graduation” component.  People will then park and move inside for a “party” inside the stadium hosted by the Conant Boosters that will culminate with a firework show.”

From the many events planned, prom is one of the most anticipated ones. Many seniors were confused as to why dancing will not be allowed, even with masks on, but eating is. Anthony Fioravanti said, “Obviously prom isn’t what most of us want it to be but I’m very happy and thankful that we can have one, and all of us get to dress up and have the experience.” As Zhao said, “the pictures will last a lifetime!”

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