When students reach their senior year of high school, they get to partake in all kinds of senior traditions like senior jeans, sitting in the front row of the student section and kid backpacks. However, these traditions no longer hold value for the seniors, who have waited the four years to participate in them, when underclassmen participate in them prematurely.
Underclassmen should leave the senior traditions to the seniors.
At the football game against Chaparral Sept. 12, there were issues in the student section where juniors and sophomores were in the front row and wouldn’t move over to let seniors in. The unspoken rule about the front row is that it is dedicated to seniors. Despite multiple upperclassmen asking the underclassmen to move back a row or at least scoot over, nothing changed. The administrators told students they were not allowed to save seats either, so many students were upset and this caused drama. In previous years, seniors would say some harsh words to underclassmen and the front row rule was generally respected then. Seniors should be allowed to sit in the front row without having to start arguments or drama and that unspoken rule should be respected. However, if the rule cannot be followed, underclassmen sitting in the senior row should at least have spirit, not sitting there only to cause drama.
Senior jeans are where seniors decorate jeans or overalls to express school spirit, and they’re typically worn by girls during homecoming events. Many seniors put hours of work, money and time into decorating their jeans. It’s becoming more common to see a junior wearing them or hearing talk of them planning to wear them. While it’s good to have school spirit and express that creatively, it takes away the value for the seniors of being a senior and wearing the decorated jeans during the final homecoming game. It’s another one of those traditions where underclassmen will get their chance to do it, as it is a common tradition across many, many schools in the nation, so they need to wait their turn or express their school pride in any other way, like participating in spirit weeks.
Lastly, senior backpacks are a tradition where seniors wear kid backpacks to commemorate and reminisce on their childhood. It’s easy to identify the graduating class by their participation in this tradition. If juniors who are graduating early wear them, that’s reasonable as they’re technically seniors, but freshmen and sophomores are wearing them with the intent of partaking in the tradition. The meaning of wearing the backpack is lost to the seniors if people who will be here another three years wear them. If the seniors were expected to wait their turn when they first entered the school, the new generations should do that as well. Even though these seem like minor actions, it disrupts the culture and traditions for seniors.
Underclassmen should respect that senior traditions are for seniors and they will get their turn when the time comes. It’s a formality all upperclassmen went through when they were younger, and they’ve earned that privilege now. The hierarchy of students should be preserved to maintain a positive school culture where seniors are the role models. There is no rush to grow up, and younger students lose something to look forward to when they participate early.
