As students walked into school on Jan. 15, rather than walking straight to their lockers, they were met with duct tape, black-t-shirts and music. They found their lockers taped shut and pictures in the halls of various teachers and students.
The prank was one of many traditions and activities the senior class participated in during their last week, in order to culminate their time in high school.
The last few days of school are typically filled with spirit planned by the senior grade government, each day with a theme of its own. Seniors dressed up as their future selves on Monday and wore funny T-shirts on Tuesday. These traditions corresponded to the number of school days left, thus the days were “future-five” and “funny T-shirt-four.”
Wednesday was senior prank day, a longstanding tradition where the graduating senior class performs a prank on the Upper School that is previously approved by Dean of Students Roz Landy. This year, they chose the theme ‘canceled,’ and taped up areas of the school to make it difficult for people to access. The prank was in reference to the many times the senior class was censored in their attempts to create a senior shirt or plan various activities.
“The prank is a really good way of cementing yourself, and making sure that there is kind of a legacy of their grade that’s not just academic,” junior Nolyn Ziman said.
Thursday’s theme was “anything but a backpack day.” Each student brought a receptacle for their school supplies that was not a backpack. For example, students brought strollers, suitcases, scooters and trash cans. This spirit day was senior Boaz Dauber’s favorite spirit day.
“It’s a fun way for people to bring out a little bit of personality and everyone can see what’s going on,” Dauber said.
On their final day of school, the seniors arrived early to watch the sunrise together. This was followed by a party in the senior alcove with music, donuts and hot chocolate.
At the end of the day, the Upper School held a campus-wide Kabbalat Shabbat to say their final goodbyes to the graduating class. The Kabbalat Shabbat included a dvar torah given by the class presidents Aliza Bellas and Yedidya Milner-Gillers, where they discussed the legacy they wanted to leave. Next came the sibling song during which siblings and close friends joined the seniors to sing “Count on Me” by Bruno Mars. The event continued with student performances and concluded with a special performance of “Uf Gozal” by Arik Einstein, performed by Jewish text teacher Paul Blank in honor of the seniors.
“The sibling song was really special, just like being able to stand up there with my sister and all my close friends and celebrate that moment with them,” senior Navah Gris said. “And also doing our grade nigun was very special. The whole grade was really together for our last day of school.”
For Dauber, the final week of school was exciting but also stressful, as he finished all of his last work in his classes. Seniors submitted their final essays in English, and prepared for their culminating math tests that they would take the following week.
Ziman anticipates a different energy in the hallways of the school with the departure of the seniors. She will also miss the personal relationships she had with various members of the senior class. Gris will also miss the relationships she formed with some of the juniors in particular.
“Seeing everybody day to day, I feel like you often take for granted the interactions you have with people that you might not talk to as much during class in the hallways,” Gris said.
The seniors will participate in seminars at school during the next couple of weeks that are aimed to prepare them for adulthood. They will then have prom, followed by Siyyum and graduation, after which they will depart for their capstone Israel trip on Feb. 23.
“It’s a lot of reminiscing,” Dauber said. “There’s a sad feeling about that, but then there’s the feeling of now I get to hangout with my friends during the day when we go to Israel.”
Josie • Jan 26, 2025 at 8:07 am
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