Once a student reaches senior year, they often look forward to many traditions and spending one last year with their friends in high school. Commencing these many traditions is always senior sunrise: an event for seniors to gather early in the morning and watch the sunrise for the beginning of their last year together. However, with the onset of COVID-19 in March of 2020, causing the 2020-21 school year to begin online and progress to a hybrid model if the state permits, many seniors in the class of 2021 worry that they will miss out on classic traditions. 

With the summer coming to a close, senior Reese Stalheim took it upon herself to plan a senior sunrise independent of Wilsonville High School. The event is set to take place the first day of school, September 8th, at Memorial Park in the heart of Wilsonville. In response to why Stalheim wanted to plan the sunrise she says, “I wanted to plan it because I felt our senior year was slipping away and I wanted to make sure the senior class of 2021 had something to look forward to. It was important because I was nervous the class of 2021 was going to miss out on traditions.” With any luck, this won’t be the only ritual for this year’s senior class as she elaborates that, “I have been in contact with the school and they have been working hard to find ways to give us the traditions we deserve as seniors.” 

With the pandemic already affecting this school year drastically, seniors can only hope for a semblance of normalcy through time honored traditions for their final year of high school. Hopefully, as the year progresses, seniors are able to make more of these treasured memories, even while wearing a mask.