While drinking milk is not normally considered particularly fun or special, at LASA, it’s a tradition. The 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to regular senior traditions. These traditions include, but are not limited to, prom, the senior prank, the gallon challenge, and senior skip day. Because the school year was almost totally online, regular high school interactions and events were very different from years past. For example, in 2020, LASA and LBJ had an online prom, and in 2021, prom was almost completely outside. 

Senior class president Sally Edwards is happy to be back in person. She believes that LASA students have quite a lot of anticipation for this year.

“People have this ball of excitement from being stuck at home for a year and a half and not being able to do high school traditions,” Edwards said. “I think having that experience of a year where we have nothing, and then coming back and being number one seniors, I’m already excited about it.” 

Traditions form every year, and happen naturally, according to Rodriguez. For example, the Raptor Rage is a brand new tradition that Roodriguez thinks will become a tradition.

  “For enacting new traditions I think it’s just something that kind of happens organically,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, events happen for the first time and people will tend to enjoy it and then it just happens again.”

While some new traditions are being formed, other traditions are being modified. One highly-anticipated, modified senior tradition is the gallon challenge. Completing the gallon challenge requires a person to drink a gallon of milk as fast as possible. This year, instead of all of the students drinking a gallon of milk, the administration had expressed a desire to only have seniors involved.

“[Principal Crescenzi] wanted only the seniors to be the ones who would actually do the gallon challenge, which is a little bit different than years past,” Edwards said.

The senior traditions, other than the senior salute, are student-led. Occasionally, the administration is involved to prevent disaster. For example, the students must let one LASA staff member know what the senior prank will be, according to principal Stacia Crescenzi.

“They do have to let one administrator know what they’re thinking so we can poke holes in it to make sure nobody gets in trouble,” Crescenzi said. “We want it to be sort of a good experience all around, and we don’t want something that’s going to cause a lot of work for the housekeeping staff, they work hard enough.” 

Other than the senior prank and senior skip day, all other senior traditions are planned and led by the student council. According to Edwards, planning takes time and effort, and is not an easy process. 

“We’re kind of in the thick of planning homecoming right now. We’re past the fun part into logistics; how we’re going to get started hiring security, how are we going to set up the dance,” Edwards said. “There’s definitely a lot that goes into these dances, but it’s really rewarding. And it’s a process I really enjoy.”

Other student council members agree that the result of their hard work is worth it. Both Edwards and Rodriguez believe that planning school events is more positive than negative.

“Any menial work you might have to do for planning these events is made up for by all the interaction between student council members that go into it,” Rodriguez said. “One of my favorite memories in general from student council was setting up for prom beforehand.”

Although some traditions are set up prior to the event, according to Crescenzi, not all senior traditions are well-thought-out. She thinks that some traditions only work with previous planning. 

“I have mixed feelings about senior skip day, mostly because nobody can agree on one day. I get low attendance, this group of friends wants to take their skip day this day, and so I end up taking a hit to attendance multiple days,” Crescenzi said.   “The years that senior skip day works really well the whole senior class, for the most part, agrees on one day.” 

Keeping with all these traditions, LASA, which had been part of LBJ since 2002, moved campuses to the formerly Eastside Memorial High School campus in 2021. Senior student representative Ethan Liu believes that due to the relocation and rebranding of LASA, senior traditions will change. 

“It’s a new campus, new school colors, a new mascot,” Liu said. “I think a lot of things are gonna be different this year, and these next few years are going to be where you see traditions being cemented and established. It’ll be interesting to see what traditions are formed in the future.”