Sunrise of our senior year

Late summer nights and lazy days make it tough for students all over the globe to switch back into school mode. I'm sure most of us battled with our own snooze button when that Monday morning crept around.

However, before the school year had even begun, the class of 2012 at Lindhurst High School was already back on campus the morning of Aug. 12. Reunited after summer vacation, we kicked off our final high school year with a traditional event called the Senior Sunrise.

We arrived at the front lawn of the school with a breakfast dish of our own to share with our fellow classmates. While we ate and talked excitedly about the upcoming year, we watched the sun rise, taking in the fact that our senior year had finally arrived.

As a part of the Senior Sunrise tradition, we painted our names on our class's portion of Blazer Way, the driveway on the side of the school that leads to the parking lot designated for seniors.

The class of 2012 didn't just end the Senior Sunrise there, though, like most classes before us. We took the event to the next level by creating a new tradition of our own. Together, we painted the numbers of our graduation year on the stage within the school quad and gave back to our school by repainting the faded rails in the Senior Walk, an area set aside specifically for seniors to spend their breaks and lunch time.

The seniors this year definitely take pride in earning the privileges that come along from many years filled with education to reach their last high school year. It's not easy to wake up before the sun does, especially when you've spent most of the summer sleeping in. However, that wasn't a problem for the class of 2012.

"This year's Senior Sunrise was bigger than last year. The seniors rallied together not only to paint their names down Blazer Way, but they also gave back to Lindhurst by painting the rails in senior walk and adding a new touch with the 2012 on the quad stage," said Trinity Counts, a math teacher at LHS and also our wonderful senior class supervisor.

Sandra Munoz, a senior at LHS, said, "Having a Senior Sunrise is an amazing tradition that we have at LHS. Meeting with our classmates is a great way to start our last year of high school. Repainting the senior walk and the stage was a fun, helpful and unforgettable experience."

"Painting the steps with 2012 was a real honor," added Victoria Caballero, another senior at LHS. "Knowing that it hasn't been touched by a previous class only makes it a bigger honor."

I'm definitely proud to be part of such an ambitious, upbeat group of seniors, and I can't wait to see the events that we come up with to make our senior year even more memorable.

Jamie Yang is a senior at Lindhurst High School. Her column appears every six weeks in Education.