On Monday, Feb. 3rd, the senior class had its traditional senior skip day, and many seniors used that day off to be productive or relax.

Senior Tina Rufo, who plans to attend West Virginia University next year, participated in senior skip day to give herself a break. She said, “It was really nice to have a day to take a break and sort of evaluate everything for college, and to just enjoy the last few months of having less responsibility at high school.”

Rufo started her day by taking a walk at the Metro Parks North Chagrin Reservation. She said, “It was so nice out that day. Then I went to the mall later on and looked at prom dresses because I thought that it’d be a good day to get ahead on some of those preparations.”

Senior EB Fluharty also participated in senior skip day so she could work on preparing for college and to take a day to focus on herself. She said, “I participated in senior skip day to take a mental health day to hang out with some friends, and take extra time to get ahead on things outside of school such as completing scholarships.”

Another senior that took the day to relax was Jack Giesey. He said, “[It was] a good opportunity to get some well-needed relaxation and downtime. I went shopping and chilled with my family.”

The senior class officers’ coordinate senior skip day to the best of their ability with the senior class as a whole. Fluharty said, “Between clubs, sports, and classes, there may be complications with skipping days that may be easier for students to understand and relate to versus teachers. Due to this, I think it’s easier for students to pick a day that is the best for the majority of the class.”

The officers also coordinate the day with administration. Rufo said, “It’s a day that was set aside ahead of time and authorized by [principal Jeff] Legan. I like that the student council coordinates the different days and checks to make sure there’s nothing important going on and that everyone is on board with the day that is chosen.”

Many seniors did have teachers decide to give them work to do on their day off. Rufo said, “A lot of the teachers prepared and knew that we weren’t going to be there so they didn’t really have any lesson plans. They were all pretty okay and supportive of us taking a day off.”

Fluharty feels if teachers were to assign work on senior skip day that it shouldn’t be normal work. She said, “Skipping school has been a tradition for seniors everywhere. If teachers are to assign any extra work, I think it should be counted as extra credit.”

The tradition of senior skip day can give seniors something to look forward to. Giesey said, “It’s a fun thing and it’d be super unfair to underclassmen if the tradition just stopped.”

Rufo feels as if senior skip day is a well-deserved break for seniors. She said, “The tradition should be kept, as a senior you’ve put in a lot of your past four years. This time, especially second semester, is a good time to just relax and enjoy the last few months you have of being with these people that you’re never gonna have the time to spend with again.”