For years, it has been a McIntosh tradition for seniors to write on stickers and place them on freshmen during the first day of school. Even though stickering has never been condoned by the administration, seniors have done it anyway. This year, new principal Dr. Dan Lane made additional efforts to halt the “tradition” that targeted freshmen.

The changes from middle school to high school are dramatic, and often incredibly stressful and overwhelming for freshmen. Dr. Lane felt that being targeted by the senior class via stickering only added to that anxiety, which would create a negative first day of school for those students. Stickering is a form of “harassment or intimidation that distracts from the inclusive environment that we want in our school,” said Lane. His hopes are that the seniors who feel by this decision are able to understand the freshmen’s perspective. He hopes to create a comfortable, family-like community in the school despite having 1704 students, a community that he feels would only be damaged by stickering.

Senior traditions have come and gone throughout the school’s long history. There are current teachers and staff members who graduated from McIntosh years before that had senior traditions that we have never heard of. Ms. Andrea Lakly remembers seniors building a playground in the bus loop so that they could welcome the freshmen to “kindergarten.” World history teacher Mr. Mark Kienast remembers an abundance of senior pranks, including a group of seniors that placed a Volkswagen on the school’s roof. Administrators and MHS graduates Mr. Dan Lakly and Ms. Stacey Smith remember the tradition of seniors painting Walt Banks Road. Multiple teachers who once were students here remember painting the rocks that used to be over by the practice football field.   

Although stickering may not be able to persist as a senior tradition, Dr. Lane is hopeful to create new traditions for the class of 2019. Students have already approached him in hallways and in the cafeteria with their ideas, and he is willing to “support a new legacy for the class of 2019.” Stickering may be another tradition that has ended its time in the spotlight, but seniors can look forward to creating something new.