This article was written by Andrew Kolondra, Jr., class of 2018.
The familiar tune of “Pomp and Circumstance,” widely known as the graduation song, filled the Heritage cafeteria the morning of Thursday, Apr. 26, but it wasn’t for graduation. Just before 9 a.m., the gymnasium doors opened for the class of 2018 to file in for the annual Heritage senior breakfast.
Seniors received a full breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon to celebrate the end of high school and their college acceptances and decisions, all the while being cheered on and congratulated by parent volunteers. The almost-alumni posed with props in a photo booth, took photos with family and friends in a balloon frame adorned with “AHS 2018,” and signed a poster to commemorate the event.
The approximately 375 seniors in attendance were encouraged to wear T-shirts bearing the names of the colleges they plan to attend this fall, and there was no shortage of schools visible among the crowds of seniors, from as far north as Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, to as far west as various University of California schools.
“I love senior breakfast because I get to see the rainbow of colors of all the colleges my friends are going to attend,” senior Chloe Brown said.
At the breakfast, the yearbook staff distributed this year’s book with the theme of “&” and sold golden “H” patches for the books for $1. Administration also passed out caps and gowns and sold red-and-white cords for graduation for $5 in honor of the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in February, with all proceeds going to the Parkland school.
Following the event, seniors left the cafeteria and paraded along the canal, the outdoor walkway lined with cheering lower school students and teachers, some carrying signs and chanting for their older brothers and sisters.
“The class as a whole gets to celebrate our potential and our future endeavours,” senior Jack Gottlieb said of the breakfast and the parade. And that’s exactly the goal of the event: to allow seniors to come together in honor of the end of their four years together – and to celebrate what comes next.
