Last Wednesday evening’s Senior Pinning Ceremony sponsored by the Renaissance Club marked the first of many emotional times Seneca seniors will be spending with their parents over the next eight months.
Seneca history teacher and golf coach Scott Glossner kicked off the night by comparing it to the Masters Golf Tournament for the seniors.
“Spring time blooms and it’s beautiful and that’s what tonight is for you. This is the spring time for you, this is the blooming of your senior year,” Glossner said.
He compared each major event on the senior’s calendar to a different Professional Golfers Association tour, but his message was simply to enjoy each and every one of these major events and take part in as many of them as you can.
The overall purpose of the evening was to ensure the students relish in every moment of their senior year before it is over and to bring seniors together with their parents to publicly pledge their mutual support.
The parents pledged to uphold the sanctity of the family, acceptance of individual responsibility and the need for parents to be role models.
The seniors, in turn, pledged to continue to honor the trust and faith placed in them by their families.
“This public commitment offers us a chance to reconnect with loved ones in the midst of our hectic lives,” Principal Jeff Spector said.
Superintendent Carol Birnbohm spoke about this special relationship.
“These are the people that always want the best for you, and I hope that you feel the love and the support that you have right now in this moment,” Birnbohm said.
She also harped on how frantic senior year can be with wrapping up your high school career and preparing for the future.
“When you spend your time planning for the future, before you know it, the present is gone,” Birnbohm said. “So live in the moment and use that pause button that we so desperately need in our busy lives and appreciate senior year together.”
Spector said this was a particularly special night for him because this is the class that brought up the idea for Prom House 110 Carranza, an alternative for seniors to bring their dates to a drug- and alcohol-free post-prom party that is run by staff and student council until 5:30 a.m. following the dance.
This was created in an effort to encourage Seneca students to make good after-prom decisions instead of taking the popular route of going down the Shore or going to the Poconos.
In its first year running, the class of 2015 seniors had about 80–90 percent of prom attendees take part in Prom House 110 Carranza, where more than $20,000 worth of prizes were given away.
The ceremony was also a particularly special evening for Nancy Stapleford, the keynote speaker of this event for the last time as she will be retiring at the end of this year.
“Tonight is about marking these special moments and making sure that you don’t suddenly wake up and it’s graduation and you’re saying goodbye to your childhood,” Stapleford said. “Tonight is about looking next to you and seeing that your parents are here and supporting you. These are the people that helped you get here, they’ve got your back and they’re always going to have your back. That’s what makes tonight special.”
To conclude the ceremony the parents and the students exchanged pins as a symbol of love, commitment, pride and dignity.
