In the last few weeks of the school year, Loyola’s graduating seniors have a lot of fun activities to celebrate before they say goodbye.
The fun started last weekend with Senior Prom on April 25. The theme of the dance was Enchanted and seniors spent the night eating, talking, and dancing together.
“I had a really good time at prom,” senior Lily Bowman said. “I liked spending the night with our whole grade all together.”
While many of the seniors were tired and needed time to recover after prom, the activities did not slow and there was still much to celebrate.
On May 1, it was National Decision Day. This is the day that seniors all across the country must commit to the college they will be attending next year. To celebrate this big moment, seniors wore merch from their chosen college to school.
Both seniors and other students had a lot of fun on this day. The seniors said they enjoyed showing off their future plans and younger students liked seeing what schools students were planning to attend.
Looking into the future, there is still much to be done before graduation.
On May 7, students will gather at Loyola’s Munz Campus, or The Hill, for Senior Sunset.
At the beginning of the year, they woke up early and watched the sunrise together at Senior Sunrise, and now they will end the year with the sunset.
“I think it’s super cute,” Bowman said. “We are ending the year similar to how we started it.”
School is not the only thing that will be wrapping up in May. For seniors that play spring sports, they will also be ending their seasons soon. To celebrate the dedication athletes have put into their sports over the years, each sport will hold a Senior Night to honor their graduating seniors.
Some Senior Nights to look forward to are girls soccer on May 6, girls lacrosse on May 9, softball on May 16, and boys lacrosse on May 17.
“I’ve played softball since freshman year, and it has been a really big part of my time at Loyola,” said senior Claire Tibshrany. “I really hope people come to celebrate that at Senior Night.”
Also coming up is the week of May 11 -18, which many consider to be “Senior Week.” This is because it is the seniors’ last week of school and many events will take place on their final days.
On May 14, seniors will all wear white polos and will spend the day signing each other’s shirts to keep as a souvenir from high school. This date is also “Anything But a Backpack Day” on which seniors will carry around their books in creative ways, as long as it is not a backpack.
The next day, May 15, marks the Senior Tailgate and Senior Olympics. Seniors will begin the day by getting to school early to cook and eat breakfast together in the parking lot. They will end the day playing games and competing out on the football field.
“We had freshman Olympics on the first day of freshman year as well, so this is such a full circle moment,” Tibsrhany said.
Their last official day of school, on May 16, will consist of practicing for graduation and an All School Mass to say a final goodbye.
They will celebrate another Mass on May 18, with the Baccalaureate Mass, an opportunity for graduating seniors and their families to all come together and celebrate before graduation.
All of these activities will culminate when the Class of 2025 graduates on May 24.
“I am looking forward to graduation, but it is really sad that we have to say goodbye,” Bowman said.
So while graduation looms large for many seniors, there is still a lot of celebrating and fun to be had before they have to leave.
