One by one, a swarm of black T-shirts made its way onto the tranquil morning beach near Commercial Pier. Sporting our last names proudly on our backs, an exhausted, yet accomplished, Class of 2018 certainly looked the part for being official high school seniors. While many of us had been up far too late the night before, or perhaps at some equally absurd hour earlier that morning racing to submit applications, the scene on Commercial Beach could not have been any more perfect. Staring pensively out into the horizon with her bagel in one hand and her shoes in the other, senior Chase Finney remarked “This is actually so relaxing…I’m going to miss this when I leave.” Students posed for pictures together in front of the water, with the first orange streaks of daylight painting the background. Others huddled in groups, sipping on hot chocolate to keep warm on a rare, cool fall morning in Fort Lauderdale. Before we knew it, it was already time to go.

During Senior Sunrise the senior class gathered before school on the shore of Commercial Beach to watch the sunrise over breakfast. While this senior tradition is one that many students have been anticipating since freshman year, the tradition is not longstanding. This senior tradition, along with parking spot painting, started three years ago with the Class of 2014. Senior Sunrise gives seniors the opportunity to take a break from school, celebrate all the hard work it took to get where they are, and reflect on the memories they made along the way.

Throughout the brief history of Senior Sunrise, this year’s gathering is the only one to occur this late in the school year. Senior Sunrise was originally intended to kick off of the senior year, marking the last first week of high school. Unfortunately, due to South Florida’s unpredictable and unforgiving weather, this year’s event had to be postponed several times. The sunrise was eventually moved all the way to November 1st, aligning with the early decision deadline.

As the Class of 2018’s first major college deadline has just passed, seniors have had much on their minds. This final stretch of the early application process required students to carefully analyze the nuances of the Common App, pare the word count of supplement essays, and support each other through late-night nervous breakdowns. November 1st was a day of stress and anticipation, but seniors at least had the relief of clicking “send.”

This year’s Senior Sunrise held a special significance and served as a cathartic experience for the Class of 2018 during an exciting and demanding point of their high school careers. In the future, however, Senior Sunrise will still most likely return to its originally intended date. “It’s probably going to stay that way because of the tradition,” said Dani Gomez, a senior on the board of the Judiciary Committee. This year’s “Early Decision Sunrise” may not live on as a tradition for future seniors, but it will live on as a unique memory that will forever unite the seniors of the Class of 2018.