High school is filled with experiences and traditions that students will remember for the rest of their lives, although as years pass, traditions tend to die.

Some teachers and administration who graduated from McIntosh participated in different traditions their senior years that have, over the years, died out. When English teacher Andrea Lakly was a freshman, the seniors built a playground in the bus loop and “welcomed the freshmen to Kindergarten,” Lakly said. English teacher Taylor Steen was a freshman when the seniors decorated “the rocks” for the last time. When Social Studies teacher, Mark Kienast was a senior, there was a senior camp out the night before the seniors’ last day. Kienast believes that it was his senior class that ruined that tradition because there was a bonfire out in the parking lot that got out of control. Traditions tend to die because people ruin the tradition for everyone.

Most schools have traditions that are for seniors as they are finishing their final days of high school. At McIntosh, during their final week of classes, May 13 through May 16, seniors are privileged with being able to dress up a certain way each day. The dress-up days include senior citizen day, kindergarten day, college shirt day, and senior shirt day with a senior tailgate in the morning and, in the past, a shaving cream fight at 3:00 p.m. in the student parking lot on their last day. Well, that is how they have finished their high school days for as long as I can remember, but change is in the air for this year’s graduating class.

However, this year, the senior’s last week of school has changed. This year, the dress-up days include past (Monday), present (Tuesday), future (Wednesday), and dress for success (Thursday). Monday’s dress-up day is used to represent the seniors past by either dressing up in their elementary school or middle school attire. Tuesday’s dress-up day is a day for the class of 2019 to wear their senior shirts one last time. Wednesday’s dress-up day is a day where seniors are able to wear their college shirts to represent where they are going. Thursday, the senior’s last day, is a day for the class of 2019 to dress their best. At 3 p.m. on Thursday, the soon to be graduates will be “drummed out” through the hallways of McIntosh to say their goodbyes to their teachers and underclassmen friends.

There’s a saying that goes, “one person can ruin it for everyone” and sadly, in this case, it is true. Last year, after the administration informed the seniors to get off of school property, a group of seniors decided that they didn’t need to follow the administration’s rules.

“An issue we had last year is people, once we made y’all leave the parking lot, they went to the intersection by the practice field and sprayed not only students, but also other citizens, which caused, I think, six golf cart collisions,” said Resource Officer, Chris Judy. “They would spray the windshield, people’s faces, jump out in front of them, so they’d have to slam on their breaks to prevent from hitting them.”

All year long, the senior class has looked forward to finally being able to be a part of the tradition that they have heard about and seen for years, but the class of 2019 is the class being punished for actions done by previous graduates.

I understand the administration’s reasoning, but at the end of the day, the current seniors have not done anything to trigger the punishing, so why should we be punished for something that previous classes have done? If anything, the senior class as a whole is upset about previous classes ruining our experiences, so in no way would the senior class take advantage of having an opportunity to continue a tradition that has been a part of McIntosh’s graduates for the past few years.

I’ve had an older sister who has graduated from McIntosh, so I have heard about all the traditions that come with being a high schooler, but more importantly a graduating senior. I remember walking into the doors of McIntosh on the first day of school my freshman year and getting stickered within five minutes. I would pass the freshmen in the hallway and watch them get stickered, but rather than feeling down about it, students would put the sticker on their binder for the remainder of the year. I remember my sister coming home from the shaving cream fight and having to shower three times for her hair not to feel like straw, but at the end of the day, it was worth it for the memory. Traditions tend to die out, but these traditions are some that students, including myself, are disappointed that they’re ending.