The Making of Senior Skip Day: 2024
A lot of us will not see each other again after graduation and classes, so to spend one last day without any classes to focus on enjoying our last days left as a senior was a must.
As we close off with senior year, we are presented with this bitter sweet moment. Senior year is the closing of our childhood, but the beginning of our adult life. Within senior year there are many traditions such as the Senior Trip, Senior Prom, Senior Skip Day, senior pranks, and many others. At Comp Sci High, the seniors took it upon ourselves to participate in Senior Skip Day on May 20, 2024. Avery and I decided that we will be reporting on the making of Senior Skip Day. The planning behind it, the drama, the actual day, and the outcome of it.
Senior Skip Day: A Senior tradition where the whole senior class skips a day of school.
The Planning
Prior to this Senior Skip Day, the class of 2024 attempted to protest against uniform policy for seniors. This was very random, and 12th grade students were spreading this message around for people who did not know: No uniform tomorrow; No uniform tomorrow. The idea behind it was to bring back dress down Friday, a tradition Comp Sci High seniors missed very much. Since we are a uniform school, dress down Friday is when on Friday we are allowed to dress down out of uniform and dress up into regular clothes. We all know this is a uniform school, though, so this was not really a successful protest. Some seniors didn’t want to get in trouble nor sent them back home. Some did it but had to change out of their non uniform.
This is why we knew we had to take it to the next level, with a new communication page. Someone anonymous made an instagram page with all the seniors following it in order to give information about our next senior tradition. With this new way of communicating with one another we were able to gain more information on what people want to do. Leading into our next tradition, which was Senior Skip Day.
Senior Skip Day planning behind the scenes was the most chaotic planning I have ever done. Planning involved the Senior Council and about 10 other seniors. The time frame of the planning was throughout April. On April 7 Senior Council and a few other seniors had a chat about Senior Skip Day.
Shane Forbes created the chat, but before the conversation started he realized a few staff members were in the chat, and he removed them…or so we thought. In this chat we were trying to figure out the actual place to go. Coney Island, Orchard Beach, Starlight Park, ice skating (my idea which sadly everyone turned down), Sky Zone, Six Flags, and more. We then proceeded to pick a date, and we were stuck between May 20th and May 24. The next day the Senior Council was informed that people like our Principal and the Operations Team were still in the chat. Chat about Senior Skip Day died down till May, when Evelyn reached out to the Senior Council to have a plan rolling. We had another conversation this time on iMessages. Soon after a flyer was sent out in the chat.
May 9, 2024
An uproar arises in the chat. Moral of the story: Some people want to go to Orchard; some people want to go to Coney Island. Joke was on us, as beaches are not open by May 20th. In NYC beaches open after Memorial Day weekend. At the time nobody had thought of that. So at this time nobody has confirmed the location yet, and May 20th was slowly approaching.
Around this time this is when the new senior instagram page made an appearance. This page played a big role in making this day come to life. A poll was created with the top three locations. Coney Island, Orchard Beach, and Central Park. Coney Island got the most votes. Everything was finally on track for May. Eventually when we realized the beaches were not open, our only option was Central Park.
The big decision we took upon ourselves is that everyone had the choice to go to Central Park. This was the main area for our Senior Skip Day; some went to other places and just had the same amount of fun. Central Park was a great location, since it was in the middle of Manhattan. It was just about 30 to 40 minutes on the train from our school which also made it easily accessible. A place for everyone to hangout. This day was able to bring the friend groups and non friend groups to be able to connect with each other outside of school.
May 20, 2024 - Maty’s POV
On the day of March 20th, I woke up around 10. I got texts on my phone of people asking “We really not going to school?”
I was really surprised that most kids did not end up going to school. I loved seeing teachers’ reactions to us not being there, as well. My first period class was empty. I had a good laugh as my friends and I chatted it up in the group chat. The plan was to go to Central Park and meet up with the seniors. I left my house at 12 and met up with my friends, and we travelled together. When I got their most of the kids were already there. I had so much fun; I got chased with water balloons, met with my cousin, and ate Crumbl cookies. Around 4, I then went to Korea Town with my cousin.
May 20, 2024 - Avery’s POV
I took my morning to relax and give myself an extra day to do any homework I had left. Once it was noon, I started to plan what I wanted to do that day. I started my day with getting ready and leaving to head to Central Park, where the rest of the class decided would be a great location to hang out. I wanted to bring something for everyone to eat as well, so I decided to bring Crumbl cookies to the party. Once I got there it was fun — there was music playing, people eating, friends playing football, and people exploring.
Interviews
We interviewed a couple of seniors about their Senior Skip Day to get some other perspectives on the day and how they spent their May 20th. We asked three questions.
How was your senior skip day?
Joseph Medina: “Woke up at 4am, made breakfast, went online to spread misinformation about the earth being flat. I had fun and got to see people's reactions, as well as enjoying the day off from school.”
Anonymous: “I started preparing for skip day the day before with chocolate covered strawberries, also making brownies, juices and salads. For the day off we went to Pier 2. The walk was tedious, but I had fun when I got to the picnic and played tag with friends. I adopted a squirrel and fed the children candy.”
Peace Ocran: “I came late to school that day so I missed the first period. When I came to school the first class was AP Comparative, then General Chemistry. Seeing the rooms empty was weird and I didn't think people were actually going to do it, especially since the last time we tried the no uniform day people punked out. The whole senior hallway was clear and I could do anything I wanted.”
Why did you choose to come to school that day?
Peace Ocran: “I chose to come to school because I had a lot of work to do in order to graduate. Took a chem test, and wound up closer to passing then failing. I was happy with my decision and got to leave school early.”
Ariel Acosta: “I was forced by my mom. My mom said If I get a text saying you’re not at school watch what is going to happen. I did not want to figure out what was going to happen. I felt embarrassed in stats class and ELA, and I did a whole lot of nothing. School later on gave me permission to leave and called my parents to let them know I was dismissed.”
Why did you not come to school on senior skip day?
Briana Chavez: “I wanted to go to my dad's job for the day.”
Emilie Davis: “ In need of R and R: Rest and Relaxation to be with friends.”
Morlaye Bangoura: “I was in search of just having fun and having a chance to vibe.”
Christopher Rojas: “Honestly just wanted to go with the flow.”
Emily Azcue: “Having a break day.”
Anonymous: “FUN”
The whole point of senior skip day was to add an extra day to take to ourselves during our senior year before we all leave. A lot of us will not see each other again after graduation and classes, so to spend one last day without any classes to focus on enjoying our last days left as a senior was a must. We were able to almost get the entire class to be absent from school and those that came in had their reasons as well. Some people needed an extra day to get homework done, have fun, and even just relax with some friends. At the end of the day, we did what we believed was well needed and deserved as a senior counting down the days left. All in all, we did it.
Class of 2024, signing out.