Yet again, the folks at Student Activities have given us an event exclusively for seniors.

The senior sunrise was an event organized by the Loyola Student Council and Loyola Student Activities Department to bring seniors together in the wee hours of Wednesday morning to watch the sunrise. Seniors huddled around each other in groups on the dewy grass, draped in the fall morning mist.

A real testament to the power of the Student Council and the Student Activities department at Loyola to get what seemed to be more than 100 seniors to school before 7am (over an hour early) in 50 degree weather to watch a sunrise over a strip mall. This isn’t all STUCO has in store, though.

Already STUCO has been organizing flex period activities for the last two months of the school year, including the Pizza Oven which makes recurring appearances at Loyola Academy
for lunch, and the bouncy houses which appeared on the football fields a couple weeks ago.

One would expect that after almost a full quarter of going this hard with the in school activities, Student Council would plan to slack off a bit during the school year.

Senior Foley Hayes reflects on his sophomore year saying that there “wasn’t much going on for students mid-year, not as many flex and in school activities.” Hayes says that he hopes that there are more activities like the senior sunrise because it “helps seniors and the and other grades get closer as a group, which after COVID and being separated for over a year really helps.”

Student Council President, Senior Liam Zidar said that there was a lot left in the year and that Student Council had just begun with the activities. Zidar also added that there “will be a lot of exclusive senior events throughout the year as well.” Some events just for seniors coming up are Prom of course, Senior Sunset, and Senior Tailgate.

The importance of the events can be seen when talking to students. Events like the senior sunrise or the bouncy houses during flex can be directly attributed to creating greater school spirit throughout Loyola Academy. If we want to recover the school spirit and Rambler pride lost during the almost year and a half of COVID, STUCO will have to keep up the good work in planning these events. STUCO also can’t underestimate their effect on the relationships students build with each other during these events.

The one thing that still lingers is the question of will Student Council maintain the same involvement in school during the middle months of the year?  All we’ve heard and seen looks promising, but only time can tell.