The Joy of Senior Ditch Day

Senior Ditch Day is a tradition where seniors in high school get a day off. Senior Ditch Day is usually in late April, so students have time to relax and have fun before finals. Last year, senior ditch day took place during the last round of MAP testing, which makes sense given that they take do test once, and in the last week of testing, not much is planned for them. Although a drawback is senior’s that have their summary of performance that day need to be present at school later, and a full day is more fun, but it is better than nothing. 

When it came close to the last week of the MAP test, I was curious about a senior ditch day or if we would have it. I reached out to a teacher, and she informed me that a senior ditch day wasn’t planned this year, but if the seniors could coordinate a day, we could just not show up for school. So I took initiative and emailed every 12th grader took coordinate a day. After some disagreements, I hosted a meeting where we decided on Monday, April 28th. Ditching school counted as an absence, so we needed to email our teachers and make up lost work, which, I think, was fair.  

On my senior ditch day, some of my friends and I went to Tempe Marketplace, and it was fun. We played games at Davin busters, such as air hockey and Space Invaders. From there, we went to see the Minecraft movie. Some seniors decided to stay on campus, which is fine, as skipping a day should be optional. However, if you have too many absences, you cannot be excused. After the movie, I felt satisfied getting to hang out with friends while not at school on a weekday.  

Given the event wasn’t planned this year, I think the school doesn’t plan on it for future seniors, which is a bummer. The tradition of senior ditch day should be continued for future 12th graders to enjoy. Even though seniors can just coordinate a day to show up for school but figuring out a day can be challenging due to differing opinions. Hence, the school choosing a full day in late April would be ideal as it is the time of year when the students experience senioritis. For those unfamiliar, senioritis is a feeling of not caring anymore, which sounds exaggerated, but the feeling of getting assignments, over and over again, especially those taking harder classes, can be difficult to manage. Thus, raising their spirits by allowing them to skip a day would be an amazing tradition for the next group of seniors to enjoy.