On Aug. 22, the Class of 2025 kicked off their senior year with the annual senior sunrise. 

The day began with seniors gathered on Brinkmann Field at 6:45 a.m. to watch the sunrise together. 

“When the sun started rising and I was hanging out with my friends, that’s when I got a bit nostalgic and sentimental,” senior Ellery Sherwood said. “Once the sun was up, we started taking gorgeous pictures of the sunrise with all of our friends.” 

After the sun rose, breakfast was held in the Crossman Private Dining Hall. Traditionally, senior boys dress in all black and girls wear all white. Many students took pictures featuring their special outfits at the breakfast.  

“Most of the day is tradition,” Senior Class Dean Blake Harkey said. “In fact, most of the breakfast was planned by the senior parents. I organized the speakers that all made very brief remarks. Traditionally, we photograph all the seniors in their black and white and this year was the first official photograph on the new quad amphitheater.” 

Along with senior sunrise, seniors also had “anything but a backpack” or “little kid backpack” day.  

Little kid backpacks included designs of Batman, unicorns, Minecraft, Paw Patrol, Dora and more. For anything but a backpack, students brought their books and supplies in a variety of things, ranging from trash cans, microwaves, buckets, water jugs and coolers. 

“I brought a little unicorn backpack that was my little sister’s,” senior Ava Mao said. “It was nostalgic, [and] it would definitely be a backpack I would [have worn] in second grade.” 

Little kid backpacks are exclusively a senior tradition and are worn all year, and many different groups coordinated their backpacks together so they could match for their first day pictures and throughout the rest of the year. 

“Having traditions for our senior year brings the whole grade together before we all split up and go our separate ways,” senior Kaavya Sampath said. “I think it’s a great way to create unity.”