Linda Avalos, Park View High School senior, watched with anticipation as the hours slipped by on her clock.
She was too excited for the next day’s events to sleep.
“I didn’t have, like, the motivation to sleep, so I was just, like, watching the hours go by,” Avalos said.
Avalos was kept from sleep as she awaited the Senior Sunrise, an event held on the first Monday of the school year, during which the graduating class spreads blankets over the football field, and, surrounded by friends and food, waits for the sun to rise, symbolizing the beginning of their final year of high school.
The tradition was first recorded at Park View in the fall of 2019, started by former SCA classroom president Rixie Gallegos, who took the idea from a TikTok she had seen.
“I decided to organize [the Senior Sunrise] because I thought it was a cool idea and something unique for our class [of 2020]. Our “last first day” would start by watching the sunrise,” Gallegos said.
Unfortunately, the most recent iteration of Rixie’s tradition, the Class of 2024’s Senior Sunrise, which was held on August 28th, was at risk of having low attendance rates. Both the Class of 2024’s Schoology course and Remind were unavailable to Mr. Marsh, senior class sponsor, until the day after the Senior Sunrise took place, depriving Marsh of his usual methods of notifying the senior class about events.
Luckily, the day was saved by the senior class executive board. Without the typical school-sponsored communication platforms like Remind and Schoology, Mr. Marsh was forced to rely solely on the senior class officers’ communication skills.
“Mr. Marsh […] gave us the information […] and basically, we all had to work together to make, like, good Instagram posts and just spread the message around,” said Kyrie Ordonza, president of the senior class executive board, which was instrumental in encouraging the Class of 2024 to participate in August 28th’s event.
The Class of 2024’s Instagram account, with 351 followers – about the size of the senior class – spread the message about the event through the following informative post, which appeared on many seniors’ feeds.
Gladly, all the hard work of the Class of 2024’s officers came to fruition on August 28th and Gallegos’ tradition continued on for another class to enjoy – and not just a small portion of that class either.
“We had […] almost eighty people here this morning […] [and] I think that’s a pretty big number, so I think that’s like 25% of the class, so I think that’s a testament to the participation of this class, so I’m looking forward to that,” said Marsh.
Marsh was right to be excited about participation rates among the Class of 2024; Aeris Phan spoke for many when they said, “One of the teachers was like, ‘oh, this is your senior year. It’s as fun as you make it, so you should go to as many events as you can’, so I was like, ‘you know what, they’re so right’.”
“Imma try going to all the school events [her final year of high school] – do as much as I can do,” Kenzie Bray, another senior, agreed.
Most cite their reason for participating more in school events as a way to spend more time with friends, whom, sadly, they will most likely take separate paths from after graduation.
Determined to take advantage of the time they have left by spending it with friends making special memories, many traded in something the Park View student body holds very dear: sleep.
In some cases, like Linda’s, the Class of 2024 sacrificed sleep completely to attend their first senior event of the year; in others, only a few hours were sacrificed, but enough so that most students were up when it was even darker than in this photo!
Despite what many described as a less-than-breathtaking sunrise, as many were unable to see past the trees because of where they sat on the football field, there was no resentment among the Class of 2024 as they funneled off the football field around 7:00 A.M..
Many came to spend time with friends, and many left having accomplished that goal. When asked what their favorite part of the Senior Sunrise was, overwhelmingly, the answers were similar to Krishnadev Sudesh’s: “talking to friends – y’know, reconnecting with a few people I haven’t seen in a while.”
Besides the socially-focused goals of participating in school events and spending time with friends, the students in the Class of 2024 are also hoping to grow as individuals.
“I just wanna grow as a person, maybe stop being held back a little bit by myself,” Ordonza listed as one of her goals for her senior year.
Natasha Kumi, another participant in the Senior Sunrise, also expressed a want to overcome old plagues.
“I was hoping to participate in the talent show [tentatively this November 21st]. I have anxiety issues, so I guess it was a way to overcome that,” said Kumi.
With a class conscious of the self, others, excited to participate, and looking to make fun memories, the 2023-2024 school year is looking to be an excellent one!
Sudesh embodied many of the attendees’ attitudes about their senior year when he said, “I wanna give it…literally everything I have. I wanna end it on a high note. No regrets.”
We’ll see you there, Class of 2024!
Special thanks to Mr. Bailey, beloved teacher and SCA sponsor at PV, who provided the leads on the origins of the Senior Sunrise tradition at PV.
Extra thanks to Karen Vasquez Quispe and Linda Avalos, who both gave up extra time to be interviewed a second time. Thank you!
