A night full of happiness, night filled with memories: As I walked through the stadium entrance, loads of balloons, red white and blue, float throughout the premises. The fence facing the entrance is covered with poster boards, plastered with all the designs, pictures and memories that could fit on them.
As the night begins, each of the senior athletes is handed a bouquet of flowers as they line up alongside their families before stepping out onto the field. Overhead of the far bleachers the words “we love our seniors,” are spelled out with cups. This is how we celebrate our high school senior, a bitter sweet night dedicated to our senior athletes and everything they have accomplished is celebrated.
Every varsity sport has its own adaptation of senior night, which is organized by parents on each team. Essentially, it is celebrated on the team’s last home game of the season as a special way for the players and families to say goodbye to the field with which they have become so familiar. “It’s nice to have a night dedicated to you and your friends,” senior soccer player Benson Child said. “But when I think about it, I’ll most likely never play on this field again, which is sad.”
For varsity soccer, the ceremony takes place right before the start of the game, so the opposing team gets a good glance while they continue to warm up. In preparation of the event, parent volunteers get to the stadium earlier in the day to decorate and make sure everything is set up perfectly for the night.
Earlier in the week, players and their families are responsible for creating their own unique poster boards, which they can decorate however they choose. Usually once the boards are finished, they are completely covered with pictures, all memories of their childhood and them playing their sport. Occasionally you’ll get the player who just throws a few pictures on it just so it’s not blank. “For my board I just used four really big pictures to fill up as much of the board as I could, senior Victor De ’Avilla said.
In addition athletes have to write their own bios saying their favorite memory on the team, who they would like to thank and what they plan to do after high school.
The bios are read out loud by the announcer as the seniors walk out on the field with their families.
I remember the bitter sweet feeling as I stepped out onto the field for my soccer senior night.
As the announcer called my name, I stepped out onto the field alongside my family while I was handed a bouquet of roses. The announcer continued to read my biography as we approached the center of the field.
As we approached the center, we were applauded by the rest of our underclassmen teammates and coaches, who we thanked and gave hugs to.
Once all the seniors and families were lined up along the center of the field, we all took a picture while the stands gave one last cheer.
I will always remember that sentimental night. Thank you to the parents, coaches, teammates and fans for making this night and the last four years memorable.

Alex Bellot

Sports Editor