Sahuaro’s class of 2025 seniors participated in one of their first senior shenanigans – Senior Ditch Day. What was supposed to be a fun and carefree day, morphed into a dramatic event for many.
Students all were treated to Wednesday, August 21st off while teachers spent their day in professional development training. A four-day week in the first month of school apparently wasn’t sufficient, so a ditch day was planned for that Friday. Some seniors hung out with their friends, some stayed home and chilled, and others chose (or were forced by parents) to come to school and take a stand against the outrageous amount of these skipped days planned amongst the student body. Senior Skyla Roberts said, “The first month of school didn’t even finish and a Senior Ditch Day already happened. I think it would have more value and purpose to it if there was one day per semester and a party that everyone could go to – then it would be more reasonable. Still, in my opinion, they are kind of ridiculous.”
Other students also took issue with the fact that a large group went to a park to hang out and have a water balloon fight, while others were not invited. Being that many members of this friend group were from Student Council, they faced much backlash. Nick Trujillo, the Senior Class Vice President, said, “…we just need to all communicate and not fight about things and just come to a certain agreement on not discluding anyone, but also that understanding it wasn’t our fault as Student Council. It just happened to be the same people who ran Student Council that did that.” The Student Body President and the Senior Class President declined to comment.
Senior Zariyah Whitlock said, “Senior Ditch Day was so fun! We threw water balloons at each other, had a slip n’ slide, and even played Colors. But, I do wish we could have planned Ditch Day a little differently because people felt like they got left out.” On the topic of people feeling intentionally uninvited, Whitlock said, “No it was not intentional, even though people do feel like it was.”
It’s understandable to feel left out, but it is not the fault of the Student Council. “So, the big thing I would say about Ditch Days is Ditch Days, obviously, is not a sanctioned event by Sahuaro. We don’t support it and we don’t sanction it,” said Principal Estrella. “…they actively keep us out of it, keep us in the dark, and you know, that’s just one thing we’d like to discourage…it’s too bad that people feel left out about that but we wouldn’t sanction it to begin with.”
The tradition of having a Senior Ditch Day has been going on for decades across America. Recently, however, the administration has noticed, “…that people are now designating multiple Ditch Days and so that’s a weird thing to have develop. We’ll have to get a handle on that because that’s extreme. I know the last couple years we noticed they were having Ditch Days, like one for every quarter. That’s a weird trend and so we’d like to kind of pull that back a little bit.”
Senior Ditch Day seems like a promising day to bond with friends, make new ones, and have fun. When too many days appear in a year, however, it’s arguable that the real point of the day vanishes along with good grades and time spent studying.
