By Hayden Garrett
Although the cap and gown remain the same, the senior experience changes rapidly — some for better, some for worse.
Ask a graduate from the mid 1990’s or even the early 2000’s and you will hear stories of handwritten notes, flip phones, and Friday night football games with no distractions.
Ask a senior this year and you are more likely to hear about long days consisting of digital deadlines, a constant stream of group chats and social media posts, and nothing but distractions.
“You can only retain 3% of what you read or hear every day,” history teacher Mr. Brad Himes said. “If you look at the amount of information your generation is bombarded with, you guys are just so distracted.”
Mr. Himes graduated in 1988 from Delta. He remembers when they didn’t even have real walls throughout the school; instead they used partition walls which were thin movable structures used to block off one room from another.
“I’m pretty loud so you could hear me clear across the building if we still used those,” Himes said.
Schools have come a long way in terms of structure and layout, but the difference that teachers and students alike can’t possibly ignore is technology.
“It has created a lot of drama in the sense that people see what you post and it goes here, goes there,” senior Christopher Rench said. “A lot of teachers will tell you seniors are the most judgy class in high school, and it’s very apparent over social media.”
Although Rench believes that social media has helped him along with his peers grow connections and help them stay in contact outside of the school, he acknowledges that if you look at the whole picture, the bad outweighs any good.
Another downside to social media and technology is the new excessive use of AI.
“They are losing out on really good skills because they are turning to things like AI and their friends to do their homework,” said biology teacher Miss Zoe Ashcraft, a 2021 Delta graduate.
The growing use of technology and social media accounts for an overwhelming amount of the drama and mental health issues that teens have to face every day. But there has to be a reason we stay so dependent on it, and that is because it is not all bad.
“Technology has helped especially with contacting my teachers through email for help,” senior Savannah Condie said.
When a student needs help or has a question about an assignment they no longer have to wait till they can see the teacher or till they have their class again they can simply email them and get the help they need. Sometimes this even occurs after school hours.
Some students are grateful for the impact of technology and the assistance it provides when used properly.
“People feel less inclined to be awful because they know they are being watched all the time and being monitored,” senior Hailie Woodring said, explaining some benefits of technology, like constant cameras and people reporting and posting their opinions on social media.
Another big difference in the senior experience is the traditions they participate in. This year seniors have started a game called “senior assassin.” It starts with all participating seniors joining an app and being assigned a target. The senior will then try to spray their target with a water gun while trying not to get out themselves by the senior that has them. This continues till it is down to only one winner.
“This year is the first year we are doing senior assassin,” Condie said. “It is not affiliated with the school at all, but the senior class started it and we have had a lot of fun with it.”
Senior Mackemzie Lipps took on the role of making senior assassin even happen. Since it is not a school hosted competition someone would have to share all the information and be okay with taking the fall if something went wrong, and Mackemzie decided it was worth it if it meant starting a new tradition.
Starting new traditions may mean leaving old ones behind.
“There are definitely things I miss. We used to have a shake shop where you go down there and get ice cream during lunch,” Himes said. “We had a few things that were different and cool that we don’t do now.”
High school is a quick four years to cram in your final teenage moments and experiences. Once you graduate you will remember the moments you chose to live. And when you walk across the stage you leave them all on the other side hoping the next chapter is just as exciting.
“It was a little bit scary also because you realize then you have to take the next step,” Himes said. “There was this finality to it …. (it’s a) ‘Wow this is really happening.’”
