On Friday, Dec. 16, a stunning array of orange and yellow stained the sky above RUHS seniors. The students arrived at Torrance Beach early in the morning for Senior Sunrise, an event hosted by ASB in which they hung out and witnessed the sunrise, followed by breakfast at Eat at Joe’s. Senior Vanessa Wasden, one of the ASB organizers, had the idea of the event in mind for a while.

“It kind of sparked last year during hybrid learning,” Wasden said. “We wanted to find a way where kids could connect and still be outdoors in a safe environment.” Taking inspiration from a Tik Tok trend, ASB members created the tradition to provide the safer alternative to being in close quarters indoors. The new activity would prove to be a new chance for the seniors to reconnect.

The sunrise activity was a breath of fresh air from the isolation of COVID-19, for students in the past year were unable to go to in-person school, and their only opportunity to communicate was through a screen. 

Senior Sarah Munn, another ASB member, appreciated Senior Sunrise because it allowed the senior class to feel like “family” and form friendships outside the classroom. 

“Coming together every year with your class is always something special,” Munns said. “It’s something even more special to us because of the pandemic as we haven’t had a chance to really connect with our class.” 

The sunrise acted as a remedy to the long disconnection during the pandemic. With it, Munns and her fellow class were able to reconnect and interact outside of school. Along with enjoying each others’ company, they were able to witness the outside scenery.

While they enjoyed the warm colors in the sky, the seniors were not able to see the sun quite well on the beach. The perspective was not compatible with where the sun was rising, compared to higher altitudes. But despite that, Wasden believes that it served the seniors well, and brought them a new opportunity. Wasden herself was excited to experience the sunrise watch.

“I [looked] forward to seeing how many kids showed up [and] seeing everyone’s faces,” Wasden said. ”I [was] just excited to run around from car to car and talk to everyone.”  The huge opportunity for interaction and bonding brought joy to Wasden. It served as a break from the amount of isolation that lingered in the community. 

Since the sunrise watch has a lot of potential to be tweaked and given more quirks, Wasden is hopeful for everything more that the tradition can bring to future classes as well. With future years and different adolescents, new ideas could bring more to the table. She is hopeful for what effect that could have for the future students.

“I think it will be a fun tradition that all the following classes can follow and maybe add their own touches to it,” Wasden said. “So I think it’s a fun precedent for the following years.” Since the sunrise watch already started out as a trend, the activity itself was tweaked by the ASB members to further create a fun experience for the seniors. As time goes on, Wasden hopes that the experience will bring the satisfaction to future students as it did to her.

Munn also believes that this senior sunrise tradition will bring much value for future classes to come, uniting the Class of 2026 under one big family.

“This tradition brings the family aspect into it,” Munns said. It’s a tradition where we’re able to unite as a class outside of school and make new friendships as the year goes on.”