Senior sunrise and sunset is becoming a tradition in many schools across the United States as a way for high school seniors to commemorate their final year together.
This week, Shenendehowa held its second senior sunrise, in an effort to adopt this uprising tradition.
For many schools, senior sunrise is held within the first week of school. However, at Shenendehowa it was prolonged due to construction of the turf -the location used for senior sunrise- according to Dustin Verga, the Class of 2025’s Assistant Principal.
“It actually feels nice because the senior sunrise is now during spirit week along with homecoming,” Verga said.
Not everyone was enthusiastic about the early start, though.
“Yes, I’m going… It’s too early,” said Cole Mason, one of the seniors who felt the weight of a 6 a.m alarm.
Kaitlyn Peplowski, on the other hand, hadn’t even been aware of the event. “There is senior sunrise tomorrow?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, I’d rather sleep in. I can’t make it,” says Harsha Bindana, another senior who did not like the idea of losing sleep to watch the sunrise.
At senior sunrise, the senior class had the opportunity to sign a giant rock that lies outside of the football stadium. Signing the rock is a tradition started at Shenendehowa by previous classes to have a way for seniors to leave their “mark” on the school before they graduate.
“I’m glad that, you know, this has been 12 years in the making for our students and for being seniors. I mean, you only get that opportunity for that one time, so anything to celebrate and honor that I think is a good idea and this one with the legacy of the rock is kind of cool,” says Verga, explaining his thoughts on senior sunrise as a new tradition.
Senior, Olivia Thayer, said that while she enjoyed spending time with her friends celebrating their final year of high school, she would only rate the experience a 6/10.
Thayer says that when she arrived, she noticed her peers were facing westward, even though the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west. 
“So imagine my confusion when I look around and see the vast majority of students on the football field are eagerly waiting to see the sunrise facing west,” she said.
“Once they all realized their mistakes, they all swiftly turned back around and we all watched the slightly underwhelming sunrise, because it was very cloudy this morning, ” Thayer said.
