Senior night traditions continue

Freshmen+Anna+Erskine+and+Caroline+Gage+dress+up+for+tennis+and+lacrosse.+

Freshmen Anna Erskine and Caroline Gage dress up for tennis and lacrosse.

As spring sports season comes to an end, each team is taking the time to appreciate and thank their seniors. In a long-held tradition known as Senior Night, each sport team has their own way of demonstrating how much they will miss their oldest members. Smaller teams, like lacrosse or tennis, take the opportunity to give gifts, dress up, write names on the track walls and have parties. Bigger teams, such as track or crew, often have dinner together with a farewell ceremony.

This year, the lacrosse team continued their tradition of dressing up the day before their last big game. This year, all of the underclassmen dressed up as Blue from “Blue’s Clues,” alluding to a favorite childhood TV show. With a large group of seniors, there were lots of gifts and goodbyes to go around.

With more than 120 members, the track team does not wear costumes or buy gifts for their seniors, but they did host a potluck dinner. There was a ceremony to thank the seniors as well as posters for underclassmen to sign. “It’s so awesome to hear about where everyone is taking the next stage of their life, and I’m excited at how we’ll all turn out!” senior Belle Brown said.

The tight-knit tennis team donned costumes to celebrate their victory against McLean. Underclassmen dressed as zombies with “I love brains,” scrawled across their foreheads and ripped T-shirts. Seniors dressed as princesses to make themselves look pretty in comparison to their zombie counterparts. “Senior night brought our whole team closer together; we had so much fun planning the day and celebrating our amazing seniors!” freshman Caroline Gage said.

For softball, dressing up and giving gifts is a big part of senior night traditions. The softball team spends all afternoon decorating the softball field and all day wearing black clothing. This year, they celebrated their only senior, Livia Polise.

Baseball is a very close team, so senior night is a big deal for them. This year, they wore with multiple hats as a silly costume to celebrate. “Senior night is important because it recognizes the players who have been with the team for a long time, and their commitment to baseball.” Junior Isaac Bendon said. “It’s fun because there’s a big game and more people come.”

Celebrating upperclassmen has always been a part of sports at the school. This can be an emotional time of year for seniors, especially athletic ones, because they have to leave something they had been a part of for years. “I guess it’s just crazy that we’re all actually leaving,” Brown said. “Senior night is an important way to reflect on and appreciate our time on the team.”