Seniors have a wide variety of traditions, particularly at the end of the year. From events like senior salute and project graduation to long-running traditions like senior pranks, the year is full of traditions and activities for seniors to enjoy.

One senior tradition is senior skip day, which fell on April 24 this year. Senior William Thiesing said that skip day might have been less successful than past years due to its scheduling.

“From what I’ve heard, it seems like the participation rate might be a bit down,” Thiesing said. “I’m going to participate, but I don’t think I have any plans with my friends yet… Considering APs are so early, and they delayed senior skip day for some reason, I think a lot of people are going to choose to stay in school.”

Senior Lucus Kim, who participated in senior skip day, said that he was planning to use the time off to study. He had higher hopes for participation than Thiesing, predicting that it would be a successful event.

“I’m excited for senior skip day, because I’d like to skip a day, but also I’m kind of worried about APs,” Kim said. “I need to study for them… Our senior class is the laziest class at school right now, so I think it’s going to be successful.”

One of the last traditions of the year is Senior Salute, part of LASA’s graduation process. On May 31, the day before official graduation, students will gather in the evening for a ceremony to receive their magnet endorsement certificates. The event will also include a video prepared by LASA faculty and staff along with a skit by students. Thiesing, who favors the event over the official ceremony, said that it’s one of the school’s more exciting traditions.

“Senior Salute is this little LASA graduation tradition where we show up at a venue a few days before graduation… it’s this ceremonial thing where you get awards and your physical copy of your magnet endorsement from LASA,” Thiesing explained. “There’s a bunch of skits and music that’s going to be performed by a bunch of people from LASA composing stuff. It’s pretty fun. I’m excited to have more of a LASA graduation than a stock-standard one, something I can do with my friends and peers.”

There are multiple people helping with the preparation of Senior Salute, according to Assistant Principal Jessica Cherry. The Parents and Faculty of LASA (PFLASA) has been meeting once a month throughout the year to work on planning Senior Salute. 

“They are involved in a lot of the logistics, like they decided where they wanted to have it,” Cherry said. “I go with them to look at different venues, and I have the ultimate say in most things, but they do most of the leg work throughout the year. My responsibility is to do the auditions for all the positions, so I send out all the communications to the students.”

Along with the faculty and parents helping with the event, there are also student volunteers. The event has Emcees, which are student leaders that welcome the audience members to the event and introduce each act during the show. According to Cherry, this year’s Emcees are seniors Sam Church, Ellyce Davis, Nic Gallego, and JC Ramirez Delgadillo. Cherry said there are also three thespian leaders who write the student skit and help to pick which students will act in the show.

Cherry said she has encouraged many people to join the event, even if they have less experience with theater or hosting events. Cherry said she hopes Senior Salute will give students one last opportunity to participate in LASA events.

“What we heard from a lot of our students who auditioned was I wanted to be apart of this because it’s the last thing for our senior year,” Cherry said, “so it gives people a chance to have this stage for a minute for the last time potentially in front of all of their friends, so that’s neat.”

Though LASA’s many traditions play a big role in its students’ final year, there’s more to being a senior than the events that come with it. Senior Major McIlvain said that he enjoyed his final year, and encouraged rising seniors to make the most of it.

“Being a senior is great, especially if you don’t make it too hard on yourself,” McIlvain said. “If there are any juniors reading the Liberator, take some easier classes, would be my recommendation. Just enjoy it.”