Pandemic related cancellations have left rising seniors in somewhat of an event vacuum. Celebrations and gatherings one by one have been replaced with virtual events and zoom calls. However, when time rolled around for the annual senior sunrise, the student body wasn’t prepared to let it slide.

The event typically means seniors meet on the football field one morning before school begins, and watch a sunrise with their peers. However, the country has responded to the global COVID-19 pandemic with widespread school closures, and an on campus event was no longer an option.

“I was at a fire with some friends when we thought of it,” John Herbert, senior, said. He notes that he and Josh Morford, fellow senior, were the central organizers. Morford and Herbert took to social media, creating and dispersing an Instagram flyer for the event.

The flyer advertised that students would meet in the parking lot of the local Safeway at 6:00a.m., and walk down the hill to Tanner Creek park. Masks were required.

The friends were motivated by the global health crisis to orchestrate the typically school-sponsored event themselves. “We just wanted to be able to have a little bit of normalcy with everything that’s going on,” Herbert said.

This notion was shared by a number of Herbert’s peers. Gabby Kraus, senior, shared the sentiment when asked what brought her to the senior sunrise.

“Normalcy,” Kraus said. “Getting a sense of it, even if it’s completely fake.”

Ava Dillingham, senior, voiced a similar perspective. “I just wanted to see everybody again,” Dillingham said. “I thought it would be, like, a traditional, fun way to start off senior year.”