Senior Sunrise. Senior Sunset. Senior Bonfire. Senior Grad Night. All of these are senior events presented by the school, however, there are senior traditions that students participate in on their own time outside of the school setting. Senior Boxes fall under this description.
One of these traditions includes creating a senior box which is where seniors purchase supplies and decorate boxes to hold senior year mementos.
One tradition that LTHS students participate in is creating senior boxes. Senior boxes act as time capsules and are a personal keepsake that hold memories and take note of growth.
“I really wanted to make a senior box because I want to have a memorable object that contains memories of everything that I’ve done over the course of my last year of high school,” senior Neha Vimal Raj said. “I wanted to see how much I would grow from the beginning to the end of senior year.”
As students brainstorm a design for a box, they have the ultimate freedom to choose one that showcases them, but it can be challenging at times.
“I think the only difficulty for the senior box is how you wanna express yourself through them,” senior Caitlyn Nguyen said.“The colors or prints took me a while to figure out how I want my box to look like.”
Senior Estabraq Al Mijbilee described the creative process in designing her box, as not necessarily having a set plan but wanting to emphasize certain colors.
“I didn’t really have a theme, I just went with the flow,” Al Mijbilee said. “Pastels, I guess.”
Regardless of having a plan or not when designing the boxes, seniors receive the opportunity to reflect on themselves and their senior year.
“All of our boxes had a sense of our own personalities and it was really cool,” Vimal Raj said. “I also loved writing a letter to my future self to open after graduation and I cannot wait to read that letter and see if my predictions have come true.”
The boxes may hold material items, but they highlight the relationships students have with the people who make their senior year special.
“Senior traditions like boxes, scrapbooks, or any group activities for seniors all have a fundamental part of them, the people,” Nguyen said. “Being able to make my box with close friends and sharing memories are my favorite part of it as it’s how you actually make the memories worthwhile.”
