After over a decade of attending school, senior year is supposed to come with special events, privileges, and freedoms, however, many seniors at Hayfield Secondary School feel that this freedom has been taken from them. Since the beginning of freshman year, students are told that if they work hard and follow the rules, senior year will come with more freedom. For many students, these senior privileges are seen as a way for the school to appreciate and acknowledge their hard work.
When it comes to senior privileges, Hayfield seems to be behind the rest. In the past as well as at other schools now, seniors are given the special privileges to go off-campus for lunch, have a 5 minute early dismissal every Friday, or even just relaxed rules during free periods.
“I would say that in prior years, things were different. Different times call for different measures. Back then, when students left campus, they would go eat and then come right back. Now, if you leave, you’re finished for the day, and that’s just how it is,” Safety & Security Assistant Kadeem Waymet said. “I believe it affects your morale. Sometimes it makes students not want to come to school, or when they do come, it feels like a drag. Instead of feeling purposeful, it can feel like you’re just going through the motions.”
As issues arose for staff in the past regarding students who abused their privileges, so did issues of students claiming to feel confined to the school. Overall, seniors have felt unmotivated when it comes to attending everyday. Not only have students raised this concern, but staff have noticed it as well.
“I would say it affects my motivation, it is draining. I feel like I am so close to being out of here but yet feels so far from it…I feel as if the effort I put in is pointless. This senior experience is not the most memorable when it comes to privileges. I still feel as if I am being treated the same way as I had freshman year,” senior James-Christan Varona said.
After attending school for over a decade, many feel they deserve more freedom at school. Whether that’s excused tardies, a five to ten minutes early dismissal, an official excused absence senior skip day, or having an open campus lunch.
“It’s your last year of high school, it’s supposed to be fun. We’ve worked over 12 years of school, we deserve at least something,” senior Melkias Abebe said.
Students have raised concerns of their desire to be treated like the adults that they are becoming. Not only do they want these privileges, but they believe they need them because independence is a necessity that will set them up for life after high school.
“I feel that it’s kind of unfair that we’ve been in the school for so long, and we get the same privileges as everybody else. The only privileges we really get are free periods and the senior parking lot,“ senior Jayden Moseley said.
While senior privileges may not seem like it should be a priority, it’s a key step in helping seniors transition to college life, where students are expected to manage their own time, and their responsibilities, all on their own. Senior year is also supposed to be a memorable time for students, as it marks their transition into becoming an adult. Seniors believe without their privileges, the school year feels just like every other year of high school.
“I feel as if not having many senior privileges makes senior year seem less like senior year,” Varona said. “I believe that giving us more freedom is also its own way of teaching us responsibility. We are soon going into what I would like to call “the real world” and I feel that by giving us freedom is giving us the chance to develop our own thought processes.”
With Hayfield getting stricter policies such as the new phone ban and the ending of SOARing out, students have claimed to feel even more restricted regarding what they can and can’t do within the school. While all grade levels must abide by these new rules, it’s a higher point of contention for seniors who expected to be given more freedom.
“I think it’s honestly frustrating that seniors don’t really have senior privileges this year. Especially with the new phone rules, it feels like something is being taken away right when we’re supposed to have more freedom and responsibility. We followed the same rules for the past three years, so it doesn’t seem fair that restrictions are getting tighter now instead of loosening,” senior Ashlynn Crews said. “As seniors who are about to graduate and go to college or work, we should be trusted a little more, like having reasonable phone access or the ability to leave campus during free periods. It’s less about breaking rules and more about being treated like the young adults we’re about to become.”
Senior privileges at Hayfield may not be as abundant as they once were or are now as at other schools, but seniors are still given special days and events where they’re appreciated. These privileges include senior sunrise, senior breakfast, senior cookout, senior meeting, and more. While the seniors enjoy these events dedicated to them, there’s still a feeling of needing more to be done to help seniors to feel further represented at Hayfield.
“In terms of recognizing seniors, there is probably always more that we could do,” Waymet said. “Right now, most of our senior recognition happens toward the end of the year through larger celebrations, such as the senior cookout held the day before graduation, as well as other senior-specific activities like the senior meeting.”
Although there are no plans on ways to implement more privileges for seniors, Assistant Principal Warren Carrington wants the senior class to feel as if they are still being rewarded for the years they’ve spent at school. He urges students to come to him with concerns over feeling underappreciated at Hayfield.
“That has been something that has occurred in the past, but with different leaders, it’s a management thing, and we are certainly open to different opportunities for students. It would just be a matter of meeting with me and the new principal to discuss how we would be able to manage some of these things. It can never be a free-for-all, you know,” Carrington said. “Our priority is always making sure that students are safe, where they need to be, and as long as those two things are in place, we can look at different opportunities for students. We’re always here. We want students to enjoy being here in school, but it always has to be well managed.”
