Students are back on the school campus and public and community events are starting back up again as well. It kicked off with spirit weeks, where dressed-up students received prizes from scanning QR codes, plus Regal movie ticket giveaways provided by ASB each month.

As we enter the last few weeks of the year, these are the last few weeks for our seniors at Sage Creek, so ASB and other staff are planning to make it as exciting as they can while considering current COVID-19 safety regulations. 

“For us seniors, all we want is to have graduation and prom,” senior Cedric Jung said. “If we can do that, that will be really cool.”

Senior events such as prom or graduation are important to seniors since those events are what they have been waiting for throughout their four years of high school. However, these ceremonies will be different from previous years since the priority is to keep everyone safe and following the county health guidelines.

This year Carlsbad high schools are under greater control from the Carlsbad Unified School District and the restrictions that they implemented which limit a school’s ability to organize events.

“Now everything has to be approved by our district office, so everything is being a lot more difficult” ASB director Valarie Tapia said. “They want very specific things outlined. It’s about a 3-page proposal document that we have to fill out for every event that we want to have.”

Students can rest assured knowing of other events that will take place this year. 

“We will have our senior awards night which will be a virtual event,” principal Jesse Schuveiller said. “We typically have our senior walk-off event, a senior breakfast. We are planning a senior car parade that we did last year and we’re hoping to do that again and of course. We are planning an in-person graduation ceremony for our seniors class.”

Planning a school public event is complicated now since all events must follow the safety protocol. However, seniors will have in-person graduation and a live-streamed version of it this year. 

“Graduation ceremony [will be] in-person ceremony with limited spectators and the ability to live stream,” Schuveiller said. “Four spectators per graduate is what we’re planning for right now and the ability to live stream for everyone else.”

Seniors will have an opportunity to have in-person graduation and their close family and friends will be able to join them as well which is of much relief to the senior class. 

“We are gonna still do the senior parade,” Tapia said. “We are working to plan that so it’s all done on the same day’s when they will pick up their hats, gowns, and graduation tickets. We are trying to keep all things traditional and in place the best that we can.”

As life returns to normal, it seems that events will mostly turn to normal as well. An important tradition and event for seniors and their advisors is the senior walk-off. It is an element that is associated with happy memories and the last step before exiting the doors of high school and stepping into a new part of life. 

School events are important to our bobcat community. It is something that unites us and a good way to celebrate something together as a whole, but in order to keep everyone safe, events are restricted by the safety protocol from the district office. Nevertheless, our ASB team is trying to make them as enjoyable and safe as they can. The school staff and the ASB team are excited to present a senior celebration and honor the senior class this year.