The early morning sun shines down on newly named seniors as they sit on campus, chatting with their friends about the upcoming year. Snacks are passed around, and cameras snap shots of students enjoying one of their first traditions of their senior year: senior sunrise.

Senior traditions are important to high schools, yet what these traditions are varies throughout every district.

Customs provide students with safe outlets to celebrate milestones, bond with peers, and to create long-lasting memories of their final year in high school. 

Dallastown Area High School business education teacher, John Myers, remembers his senior year fondly because of the traditions he participated in.

“It helped me build some really strong memories, it helped me think of ‘Wow I’m really gonna miss this. I really am gonna miss this,’” Myers said.

Myers graduated from Spring Grove Area High School in 1979, and positively recalls many of the traditions that his high school approved.  

“A lot of us used to race our cars, and it wasn’t on a drag strip. I will be honest, it was at places where we are not allowed to race them anymore,” Myers said. 

Trends continue to change as the years go on due to a number of factors. Many customs have been discontinued due to safety concerns, the potentiality of damage or disruption, and changing societal views.

Homecoming bonfires, senior dress up day, and float parties are all traditions that schools used to participate in, but now they are just events of the past. 

Dallastown’s principal, Dr. Misty Wilson, graduated from Berlin Brothers Valley High School in 1997, and looks back on her senior year with an unquestionable positive attitude.

“I was all school spirit, all school events, that’s probably why I am a principal,” Wilson said. 

While Myers and Wilson attended different high schools, they both decorated senior floats for their respective schools’ homecoming parade.

Using paper flowers, and simple craft supplies, seniors had the opportunity to show off their class spirit. 

“It was terrific. I really wish when we were doing those things that there were movies and videos,” Myers said. 

While Dallastown’s seniors may not be decorating floats, there are still plenty of traditions that elevate students’ high school spirit. 

Dallastown Senior Class Officers Tysiar Bordonada (President), Reese Rosay (Vice President), Chelsea Cottrell (Treasurer) and Bella Scheerer (Secretary) have been hard at work, ensuring that the planned traditions are trouble-free.

“There is a lot of planning that goes into senior events. We need to account for who will attend, what we plan to do, and what items we may need to make the events run smoothly,” Cottrell said.

Moving away from old traditions, many schools have implemented new ones. Across varying school districts, students have the opportunity to paint their reserved parking spot. 

This trend began in the late 2010s and early 2020s, being heavily influenced by student support to show off their creativity and school spirit for their senior year. 

Dallastown has considered introducing this tradition to their campus many times, but there have always been a few confounding factors that make the activity difficult to add to the agenda.

“Unfortunately Buildings and Grounds feels that the upkeep of the parking lot is too extensive for us to do it,” Wilson said. 

Wilson continued by stating that the sheer size of the student body at Dallastown, and the lack of assigned parking spaces, would make this activity too much of a strain on staff and students.

“We actually attempted to paint senior parking spots this past year, but what most people don’t realize is how much preparation there is. We have to assign a spot for every senior, collect money, reserve days to paint the spots with supervision, and approve every single design from each student,” Cottrell said. 

Along with painting parking spots, the trends of painting senior jeans and wearing children backpacks have picked up. 

The tradition of painting senior jeans began in the 1920s, where students would paint beige corduroy pants or skirts. After a brief remission period, the trend picked back up in the 1990s during the grunge fashion movement. 

Then again, the tradition picked up traction in 2023, becoming extremely popular for seniors, and eventually making its way down to underclassmen. 

“I think if it’s anything that brings groups together in a positive way, then I think that they are important,” Wilson said. 

Similarly, in the early 2020s wearing children’s backpacks as a senior became wildly popular. 

“I think that childhood backpacks are going to become a fun tradition that seniors repeat in the years to come. It is a simple way to show you are a senior, and nostalgic to remember how simple life used to be when we had those backpacks,” said Cottrell.

The traditions schools have now aren’t only important to the seniors, but also the teachers.

“I love Senior Sunset. Students spend the evening playing games, taking photos, and just enjoying each other’s company,” Senior class advisor, Emily Epps, said. 

Traditions are implemented, changed, and replaced every year, but students and staff are constantly looking forward to what they get to experience in their upcoming school year. 

“I think it would be great to see a day of athletic letterwinners showing off, even to the point if teachers had their old varsity jackets and things like that,” Myers said. 

From sunrise to sunset, seniors have the opportunity to partake in many traditions to elevate their senior year. Even though many have changed, the future of school traditions looks bright.