Senior Skip Day, also known as “John Cena” day was on Oct. 30: a day off of school on which seniors get to celebrate or apply to colleges by skipping class. Students can unwind and take a break after finishing the most demanding portion of their year.
Seniors are free to do as they choose during this time, and common pursuits include sleeping in, socializing with friends, and spending time with family. However, it is not forced so students can choose to attend school if they wish. Due to the hurry to finish their applications, students manage to be productive with their day and make up for missed schoolwork. “For my skip day I slept in and had a late breakfast; it was great not having to get up at 6:30 for once,” senior Anthony Johnson said.
Teachers are also impacted by senior skip day. Because students won’t be there, teachers may fall behind schedule with the curriculum as a result of students missing the lesson. “Senior skip day has less of an impact if I know about it ahead of time and can plan for it. As a teacher, if I don’t know it’s happening and I only have two to three kids show up to a class where I might be introducing a new topic, having to shift a lesson that quickly can be difficult,” English teacher Catherine Boswell said.
Because of skip day, teachers essentially have no students to teach in classes with a high population of seniors. On the other hand, teachers may have no one to teach but they can still use the extra day to make lesson plans or prepare for the rest of the week. On one side the MCPS rules are still in effect for skip day “Senior skip day does not impact me as a teacher. If students are absent they know it is their responsibility to come in and make up the assignment or assessment that they missed, and that they are responsible for their actions,” AP Human Geography teacher Anne-Marie Steppling said.
According to MCPS Student Rights and Responsibilities, unexcused absences mean students might not be able to participate in an extracurricular activity or teachers may deny credit for missed assignments or assessments, by the process approved by the principal and the leadership team.
Only a handful of seniors actually go to school on skip day, despite the fact that the majority do not. Seniors may like to stay on top of their work, attend school to catch up on work or meet with a teacher to get help. “I went in on senior skip day because I needed to catch up on math and also AP Lit. Although there weren’t many people I still had a chill day at school with not much work to do,” senior Omar Jobe said.
Students in AP Research also technically didn’t skip but went on the field trip to University of Maryland. While they weren’t in the building, they still attended the school-sponsored event for their class. “Well technically I didn’t skip because for my AP Research class we took a field trip to UMD but we just chilled there the whole time,” senior Malachi Reid said.
November college applications are past due now, and students can finally unwind on college but still have to maintain grades and keep up with school work. Senior skip day gave students a day’s rest and time to gear up for the long three school quarters we still have left.
