
These days, when I am taking about “Seniors” it is talking or thinking about being a senior citizen, but last week, I got to take part in the other world of seniors! Paul and I attended the Senior Serve dinner at Santa Fe High School. We were asked by Pnut Oliver to come and sit at his table and share the evening with him and his family. It was a fun evening and I so enjoyed listening and watching the seniors as they prepare to go out into the world and make their mark upon it.
When I was a High School Senior, there was not a lot of events or traditions. We had the prom of course and then an unofficial Senior Skip Day. The school just sort of turned their backs when all of us did not show up one day for classes. One of our teachers even showed up at the lake with his ski boat to spend the day with us, or keep an eye on us. These days they have many things they do and take part in to celebrate their senior year. They start the year off with a senior sunrise, in that the seniors and their families get up early one day and they all watch the sun come up together and then breakfast is served. Such a meaningful thing to do.
Senior Sunday used to be called Baccalaureate, and it was a very formal religious service, a rite of passage. Now, Senior Sunday is posting pictures of your senior on Facebook on Sundays all year long! One of the new ones is the tradition of painting your parking spot in the high school parking lot for your senior year, and they really do that one up using all sorts of artistic talent.
Of course, all of this cost money, so classes start raising funds in their freshman years to have enough money for all the events. That means parents are baking, washing cars, having raffles and anything they can think of to help the class have enough money for prom and then a celebration after graduation. Those started a few years after I got out as a way to keep the students off the streets and have some fun.
Senior Serve is a fund raiser for Project Graduation. The seniors invite family and friends to a dinner and then the seniors are the servers for the evening. Pnut’s mother, really did herself and her son proud. Each senior has a theme and his was peanuts of course, so we had peanuts to snack on, our name tags were peanut shaped. There was even a 3d printed little peanut for each one of us. Pictures of the senior and mementos were all over the tables. The chair backs were t-shirts from on the sports and groups he was a part of. Pnut, served two full tables a great BBQ dinner, he kept our tea glasses full and then gave us our choices for dessert. We then give the senior a “tip” of cash to help out. Along with the dinner there was a 50/50 raffle, a live auction and a silent auction and my favorite, a dessert auction. Pnut is the son of Eric and Kera Oliver, who have had a business on the peninsula for many years. It was Kera’s father’s business, and she and her husband now owe and run it. Several and business from the peninsula donated items for this event. Camp Margaritaville donated passes and a cabana for the live action, and there was a guitar from Tracy Byrd. Jeff Cunningham gave goodies to fill up an ice chest that had been donated. The silent auction had something for everyone to bid on with great baskets filled with goodies and lots of gift certificates to all kinds of businesses. It really does take a whole village to raise children these days and we were proud and happy to have been asked to be a part of this one. Pnut (If I put his real name, no one would have a clue who I was talking about LOL) will be attending Stephen F. Austin in the fall. He has been very active in school, playing football, on the honor society and many other groups, we could not be any more proud of him. I wonder what the seniors will do when our 3 young grandsons reach that age, well I better start saving my pennies now. Take time to help a young person, it is a hard time to be a teenager these days and they need to have good positive role models in their life and most of all to know that they are loved and cared for.