Celebrating Senior Friday
Parade, yearbook distribution serve to commemorate last year of high school
Seniors paraded on decorated cars to celebrate the end of their high school academic careers.
May 18, 2021
Due to COVID-19 regulations, many annual school events have been altered, rescheduled or canceled. Despite these challenges, Spartanburg High School and its student body came up with creative ways to celebrate the end of the school year. On Apr. 23, 2021, SAGA distributed yearbooks and gave seniors the first look. Seniors also had the opportunity to participate in field day and a parade.
Field day began at 8:30 am, when seniors headed to the football field to participate in the bouncy house obstacle course, football, cornhole and yearbook signing. Afterwards, they held a volleyball tournament where the winning team of seniors earned a mone- tary prize. Seniors JD Ratliff, Turner Mahaffey, Kevin Brown, Xavier Madison, Elliot Cont and Davis Mobley were members of the winning team.
Trent Winningham (12) is a virtual student who enjoyed interacting with friends he had not seen in a while.
“I thought that the senior field day was fun, and it was a good time because I got to see some of my classmates and friends from the class of 2021 that I haven’t seen in a while,” Winningham said.
At 10:30 am, the seniors made their way to the student parking lot to decorate their cars and prepare for a parade that began at 11:30 am. The whole school came out to watch and cheer on the seniors, who passed by in their uniquely decorated cars. Classes held up encouraging signs that the drivers and passengers could read as they drove by. SAGA presented the first look of the 2021 yearbooks to Principal Vance Jones and the student body in the morning. Eventually, the yearbooks were distributed and seniors reminisced on their accomplishments over the past four years. Throughout lunches, SAGA distributed the rest of the books to underclassmen. By the end of the day, few yearbooks were left, indicating they were a big hit. Students were impressed by the unique thermal ink cover that states “Beyond the Surface” and, when rubbed or held up to the light, reveals pictures of students from throughout the school year as a reference to the actual people beneath their masks during the pandemic.
William Gibbs (12) believes this year’s designs and graphics are unique compared to previous editions.
“The coolest thing about the yearbook this year was the letters on the front of the book, where you could rub them then see pictures of students at our school behind it. It’s cool because I haven’t seen a yearbook this unique and different,” Gibbs said.
Seniors continue to look forward to more annual events, including prom on May 15 as well as graduation on May 22, both held on campus. Graduation will be located in the Viking Stadium and livestreamed for people watching at home.
