It had been 390 days since LWHS’ senior class had been all together on campus. But on April 7, the entire grade was together again for LWHS’ first ever Senior Week. Instead of the usual prom, senior retreat and other traditional senior activities from before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Class of 2021 got three days with the campus all to themselves.
“It was so nice to see everyone at school be able to transcend the social groupings and just be a community with one another, not as members of our friend groups but as members of our grade,” said Natalie Keim ’21.
Photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
Due to LWHS’ 50% capacity cohort system, only half of each grade is on campus at any time, so many seniors hadn’t seen half of their classmates for over a year. For many, senior week was a much-needed opportunity to reconnect with their peers.
“It was nice to see people that I haven’t seen in a while,” said Davis Roberts ’21. “Senior week helped me remember all of the cool people that we have in our grade.”
Senior week started on Wednesday, April 7 after seniors and faculty had dropped by to test for COVID-19 that Tuesday. They attended classes that day by Zoom. By evening, the test results were in — all negative. All seniors could return to campus on Wednesday, and the in-person Senior Week activities began. On Wednesday, students attended their regular classes via Zoom, but, for the first time since March 12, 2020, were together as a collective grade on campus. For lunch, seniors were served the pre-COVID favorite of Mayan chicken, a much-appreciated change after the pandemic limited the Caf lunch service to sandwiches, the easiest restrictions-friendly option.
“I had been craving the Mayan chicken for so long, so the fact that the Caf staff made it especially for us made me feel really special and grateful,” said Morgan Harris ’21.
On Thursday, seniors skipped their morning classes to participate in various bonding activities with their advising groups. Frosh-Soph Dean Christine Yin created and screened a sentimental video of pictures of the Class of 2021 when they were Frosh.
“It was funny to see how much everyone has grown up throughout the years,” said Harris.
Then, Dean of Students and interim Junior-Senior Dean Kate Wiley arranged an advising scavenger hunt called the “UnAmazing Race,” where advisory groups speed-walked around school as they solved riddles about the LWHS campus.
“The scavenger hunt was fun because not only was I able to work together with my fellow advisees but it was also really nice to pass people in their groups, say hi to everyone, and see faces that I hadn’t seen in a year,” said Kaden Evans-Shaw ’21.
Seniors then enjoyed a second favorite lunch, the Caf staff’s famous pesto pasta.
“Getting to eat the pesto pasta again really brought back so many good memories of sitting on senior hill in the sunlight eating lunch,” said Danielle Park ’21.
Photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
On Friday, students attended their morning classes on campus. At lunch, they were met with food trucks in the faculty parking lot. Students enjoyed Mexican food from El Toyanese, Korean food from The Chairman and warm churros for dessert.
“I thought the food trucks were super celebratory and fun, and a great COVID-safe way to make senior week feel special,” said Keim. “Something I will always associate with the Lick experience is the food, so the food trucks walked that line between sentimental and celebratory so well.”
In the afternoon, seniors attended retreat workshops led by FacStaff and TAs. Workshop topics ranged from “Musical Jam Session” to “Credit Cards — why they work and why to not run a balance” to “Healing Circle.”
“I went to the healing circle workshop which was great because people were just super open and honest,” said Keim. “I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of healing circles in college, so it was really nice to do something that was so quintessentially Lick.”
“As I look back on the week, I just feel really cared for because the adults in our community worked really hard to give us this much needed and much appreciated senior-only time,” Park said.
On the 125th anniversary year of Lick-Wilmerding’s s founding, the past nine months were certainly not how the Class of 2021 had hoped their final year on campus would go, but as seniors cherished some of their last days together on campus, the effort faculty and staff put into making as good a COVID-safe time as possible was truly appreciated. The Lick spirit survives.
Photo by Adrianna Delgadillo
