There have been many complaints circulating throughout the senior class that the class of 2018 is being cheated of many of the fun traditions or activities that we have been looking forward to the past four years. Most notably are not being able to bring underclassmen to senior night, no senior prank, and having to take a sit down final or turn in final paper in person.

This year was the first time the annual “senior night” dinner and casino night was kept to only seniors and faculty. While many seniors felt as if this was unfair that the class of 2018 to not be able to bring an underclassman as their date, the night proved to be a huge success for all participating. While it was a disappointment at first to not be able to pick a special underclassman friend and have them accompany you, the night was more focused internally on the senior class and the close-knit relationships between students and faculty.

“It’s one of the only nights faculty and seniors can interact and say goodbye… it’s also to make it about the seniors. Having the underclassmen there would make it very busy and take seniors away from talking to each other,” in the words of senior prefect Anna Markey.

Although it may have seemed like an unfair rule to the class of 2018, keeping senior night to just seniors proved to be a special tradition we started.

In the past, (and done at almost every other school) the seniors have pulled a prank on the school as a final class bonding hurrah.

“Please remember that Lake Forest Academy does not condone Senior Pranks,” Dean of Students Chris Tennyson reminded students.  

It is understandable that the Academy wants to keep everyone safe and not jeopardize any school property, however in years past seniors have been able to pull a safe and funny prank approved by the school. It is just another way for the seniors to have fun and really go out of their high school career with a bang. This was a tradition taken away.

In years past there has been an unspoken rule that if a senior has above a B+ in a class or has taken the AP exam, there is no final exam  or project for them. If they did have a presentation, paper, or project it could be turned in electronically or in class the week before exams. However this year seniors were required to have some kind of final or activity to turn in or complete during the underclassmen exam slots.

Personally, I was annoyed because I took five AP or post AP classes this year and had my final exams for the class before the AP exams in preparation, yet I still had to complete papers, presentations, and in person projects during the week of exams which added more stress and seemed unnecessary to have to turn everything in person during a certain time. This was annoying to many seniors and definitely a motivating traditio taken away.