On Thursday during periods one and two and STaR, seniors gathered in the auditorium to participate in “Senior Seminar,” a class meeting meant to give students the opportunity to reflect on high school and to excite seniors for the future. Motivational speaker Kit Allowitz gave speeches and performed demonstrations to advise students about life after high school.

“I think we got to hear from somebody who had a lot of experience with going through life and seeing a lot of things,” senior Parker Mimbela said. “I think the main message was that life is just beginning for us and as soon as we walk out of these doors in May, we should put in our best effort to go out there and be the best version of ourselves.”

Seniors were broken up by their STaR class, and two STaR leaders were selected based on their school participation and extracurricular leadership experience. Mimbela was one such leader. These leaders kept their STaR peers involved in the seminar and assisted the speaker when necessary.

“I got to hand out all the shirts to everyone who showed up,” Mimbela said. “Once we got into the auditorium, me and three other leaders got to organize and make sure everyone was there, sitting down in the right spot. Then we were asked by Kit [Allowitz], the speaker, quite a few questions and then we got the answer of each person. They were questions about the school year ending and we were asked to go around and ask everybody what their answer was and then we had to walk up and tell everybody what our group said.”

For one activity, students were given marshmallows to test their self control and to show the importance of waiting for gratification. 

Another activity had volunteers attempt to ride a bike with its steering reversed. Anyone who could ride it for 10 feet would win $50. Allowitz emphasized that it required practice, persistence and motivation to master the skill.

“We saw people go up on the stage and ride bikes,” senior Marek Oganowksi, who participated in the bike activity, said. “The bike was backwards, and no one really was successful with it. I thought I could do it going up. I thought I would be able to just reverse my mind and get that $50. But, I couldn’t. Immediately after I got on the bike, I forgot it was a backwards bike and tried to flip it.”

The event also provided STaRs with a chance to connect after COVID, AIM and other factors have prevented many classes from meeting as normal.

“I feel like we were able to connect,” Mimbela said. “We had a pretty good STaR; we never had any issues with each other. Over the years, things have been challenging with STaR –some of us not being there all the time in sophomore year. I think it went well and it’s going to end well.”

While the seminar featured games and activities for students to bond, the main purpose was to inspire seniors for the future.

“I think it was a learning opportunity just to better yourself and to get inspiration to finish off your senior year and be successful out of high school and into college if you’re going,” Oganowski said.