The senior sleepover is an Academy tradition that happens the night before orientation. Each year, the senior class gathers together at one girl’s house and stays up all night playing games and bonding. This year Sara Chowdhari was generous enough to offer up her house for 98 girls.

The Class of 2016 danced the night away, played ice breaker bonding games, and relived childhood memories with movies like The Emperor’s New Groove and High School Musical. The point of the sleepover is to bond with some of the girls that you do not usually talk to everyday. Alejandra Lozano says “I got the opportunity to talk to most of my class, especially when we were watching a movie and being ourselves.” By the next morning, all 98 girls awoke with a severe case of bedhead as well as dark circles under their eyes. As everyone slowly trudged to their cars, we came to a consensus that an Iced Macchiato from Starbucks was a necessity. Jackie Joyce recalls, “I could not have gotten through that long day without a starbucks run.”

Next, we made our way to our last high school orientation. “Walking into the gym for my last high school orientation was a bittersweet feeling that I’ll never forget,” Alma Torres says. In the middle of orientation, students were divided by student council into groups to perform icebreakers and fun games. These activities are a great way to get to know incoming freshman as well as rekindling friendships and sparking the sisterhood bond with other grade levels that every Academy girl yearns for. At the end of orientation, Academy joined together in participating in the traditional lap sit as well as singing the Alma Mater. Tears were shed and hugs were given.  At the end, we all ran to the middle, on the jaguar head, and chanted “SENIORS, SENIORS, SENIORS” This experience made us all excited and hopeful for this coming year or school.