Thursday, September 1st, was the annual Senior Picture Day. Every year students prepare themselves to wear the district approved black dress or suit, or so we thought… Behind the scenes the “black dress” is actually a cloth drape that goes around the students’ arms and the “suit” is just a jacket that velcros in the back.

Yearbook advisor Mary Prichard said, “Students can slip them on over their regular clothes or change in a nearby bathroom if needed.”

A number of seniors like the formal outfits and enjoy taking part in the tradition.

“Some seniors like being able to wear a similar outfit as their older siblings or parents did, or just have a fancy photo for their senior year of high school”, Prichard said.

On the contrary, some seniors find the outfits awkward and unflattering.

“It’s like too fancy for the senior pictures and on top of that, I would have rather worn my own suit as opposed to… the ones that barely fit that they gave us,” senior Alden Dougherty said.

As Dougherty said, he’d like to wear his own suit and a lot of other seniors would probably prefer to wear their own formal outfits.

For example, senior Alen Kovac said, “Students should have been able to [get] their own choice of what to wear or wear their own suit… It would make it easier for all parties involved.”

Asking students to wear their own formal clothing does bring up the issue of students not owning suitable clothing or not having the money to spend on it. So, one solution may be to include a variety of options.

“It could be done other ways, or with more options where students could choose to provide their own formal outfit if possible, or use a photographer option if not”, Prichard said.

Giving seniors the option to wear their own formal clothing allows students to express themselves, as well as help them feel more natural and comfortable.

“Make senior pictures more about them [the seniors]… as opposed to like everyone being the same”, Dougherty said.

Two years ago, students had to wear their own clothing because we didn’t have access to the formal wear, due to Covid.

“We asked students to wear dressy black or white clothing, but most did not, or were not able to”, said Prichard.

Therefore, it may be a difficult task to get seniors to dress formally for their pictures if the options were open. But it is something that seniors could potentially change if fought for.

“The yearbook staff would need to discuss and then make changes with administration to the senior photo process and the amount of time it takes to take the photos,” Prichard said.

Diversifying the senior picture ensemble is certainly a point of discussion for the next senior class to be able to love their yearbook photo.