Seniority > Senioritis

Seniors Reap the Benefits of Leadership

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On October 30 senior, Brianna Gulley, 12, starts to clean up after a scholar bowl home tournament. Gulley is a senior this year in Scholars Bowl (Photo by L. Kuhn).

In most sports and activities around the school, seniors are considered to be the captains or leaders. With four years of experience under seniors belts, they are the most equipped for that position. 

“The seniors set the tone for a lot of other players. The younger kids are going to be looking to them for guidance. Obviously you get guidance from a coach, but guidance from your peers is different,” said Elizabeth Delgado, assistant tennis coach.

There are some certain responsibilities and decisions that come with being a senior or a leader.

“Sometimes us coaches will call some of our varsity senior guys in and ask them what kind of uniformes they want this year,” said Delgado. “Sometimes with conditioning, Coach Sherron or myself, will call out one of the seniors to decide how many or long we go, and normally they do a great job deciding and leading those types of things.”

When people think of seniors leading, the first thought that probably comes to mind would be in sports. There are actually many activities around the school where seniors are captains, such as scholars bowl.

“I like my seniors to be true leaders. I want them to dictate that you come to every practice and you participate in every practice and show the commitment that is involved,” said Stephanie Hojnacki, varsity scholars bowl coach. “These things are much easier for students to learn from another student than to be taught by a teacher.”

Most students look forward to their final year of high school to finally be at the top and lead. As a leader you are the person your fellow teammates look to when things don’t go as planned or there are questions that need to be answered, which could cause some stress. Senior scholars bowl captain, Beth Baum, feels this pressure a lot during the season.

“I would say sometimes [there is a lot of pressure] because people expect you to know a lot [as a leader]. It can be pressure because there are some subjects I don’t know much about and I feel like there is some pressure because I have been here for a long time and people think I should know everything,” said Baum. ”I guess [I want younger kids] to know they don’t have to know everything, and you don’t have to be super loud or outspoken to be a leader, anybody can do it.”