By Adrienne Diaz
Every year, Granada Hills Charter’s (GHC) Associated Student Body (ASB) conducts a Senior Day for the graduating class while lower classmen take the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT).
In past years, Senior Day was held at Castaic Lake where students enjoyed a picnic as well as jumpers and other small carnival-type rides. However, ASB members this year worked to create a new concept for Senior Day which students would find even more entertaining.
This year, ASB planned Senior Day at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Most students had a positive experience with the new venue and activities
“Most of the lines weren’t too long in the morning and so we were able to get on the rides right away, which was fun,” senior Bruce Meza said.
Although some students questioned paying for a Senior Day ticket when they already have a season pass to the park, there were elements only available to Senior Day participants such as free food.
“There should have been some sort of option for students that already have a pass, because many of my friends didn’t want to pay when they could just go another day with their card,” senior Aylin Sidon said.
The lines for the buses were extremely long, showing students’ enthusiasm to celebrate senior year with their friends. According to ASB, 511 seniors were in attendance. This accounts for just under half of this year’s senior class. While the bus loading situation did take a little long with that many students, once inside the park at around 10:30 a.m.
students were free to explore on their own while following up on updates about lunch and exiting the park, which was posted on the GHC class of 2020 Instagram account.
At the beginning of the day, lines for rides were short considering that it was an early morning in the middle of the week. However as the day went on, more and more people flooded the park, but still not to the point where lines were too long.
Included with the ticket price, students were given a buffet lunch. This buffet was open from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., which was a good window of time for everyone to have the chance to get food on their own time. While the food selection was limited to chicken strips, hot dogs, salad, a bag of chips, and a choice of either a popsicle or ice cream sandwich, you could go through the buffet multiple times.
“I liked the fact that they allowed you to get food more than once, but there should have been more variety,” senior Meredith Espinosa said.
Six Flags did not do a great job of providing for students with other dietary needs, however. The salad would have been far from filling for vegetarians, for instance. However, this is not the fault of ASB; Six Flags was the one in charge of providing food.
Senior Day felt short because there was so much to do inside the park. Students were given until 3:00 p.m. to be back at the busses in order to be back at school by 3:20 p.m., normal school hours. As a field trip activity, students were required to subscribe to the GHC school hours.
Overall, the event was successful in terms of ticket sales and satisfaction with students, who felt that this location was more enjoyable than Castaic Lake. ASB has already discussed the pros and cons of this year’s Senior Day and discussed how they would get feedback from students who attended.
“We are going to have a survey for seniors asking what they thought of everything, but I think Senior Day will be held at Six Flags again because it was successful,” senior and ASB member Diana Aramyan said.
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