Chalked Spots, Another Year Down

It’s senior year for many students at SDA and as always, they rushed to campus before school started, to make sure they reserved and chalked their ‘parking’ spot for the upcoming year. The day has been a tradition many underclassmen have looked forward to throughout high school and now the class of ‘18 finally got to take part in it.

Senior Chalk Day was filled with many reunions and students sharing their exciting hopes for the New Year. “I most look forward to dances and peer interactions … I have made so many friends that I feel more at home at SDA than any other year,” said senior Olivia Hussey.” The senior chalk day was super fun! It was awesome to see how everyone else did their spots and it was a great way to kick off this year.”

Some students have had ideas for their designs ever since they were underclassmen while others came up with their ideas on the spot, like senior Josie Lieber: “For my drawing I wanted something creative, but that would still let people know the spot was ‘mine’. At some point I saw a seagull fly by, and that is when I knew what I was going to draw; one of the seagulls from ‘Finding Nemo’ that say ‘mine.’”

For some students, their design had deeper meaning and was a good reminder of something special that would bring them back to happy memories during the stressful days of senior year and applying to colleges. Senior Charlotte McClelland drew a map of South America, where she spent two months in Paraguay during summer. “I was a participant with Amigos de Las Americas,” she said. “It was an amazing experience! I created so many relationships both with my host community and other participants. I learned a lot about myself, being independent and how to face challenging situations in another language.”

Along with college apps, senior year can be stressful in general as the class of ‘18 prepares to say goodbye to an important part of their life and start a new one. Senior Alex Schenkhuizen had a new idea to keep all his days filled with magic: “I knew every morning people would drive or walk by and see it; it’s a reminder to remember to see magic in everyday life.”

While a great tradition, it has also brought problems this early in the school year., Some students obsession with their marked spots have gone a little far in some cases. This summer a student came to school for a sports practice and parked in a chalked spot. She never thought it would be a problem since it was the day before school started; however this didn’t seem to be the case. Another student immediately sent a picture of the car to the spot’s ‘owner’. The owner went on to threaten to key their car.