May is the last full month high-school seniors will spend with each other, and Jordan Lim wanted to find a special way for Eastlake High School’s class of 2015 to reminisce.
About a month ago, Lim pitched the idea of a Senior Destination Day to leadership teacher Don Bartel, and after getting approval, she quickly organized an after-school get-together for the school’s 430-plus seniors on May 1.
The idea, she said, was to do something more formal to recognize students who’ve been accepted into colleges or training programs, and to start the goodbye process after so many years together.
“In years past, they’ve always kind of gone out on their own on the football field, and it was kind of this unspoken tradition,” Lim said. “I think I just decided to make it a community event, because it’s just such a big day for all of us as seniors.”
Hundreds of students crowded into the school’s auxiliary gymnasium to pose for group pictures and share memories. A large map of the United States and a smaller one of the world were taped to a wall, and students pinned their names to it to indicate their future destinations.
While dozens of pins crowded together in the Puget Sound area, representing schools like the University of Washington or Seattle University, dozens more were on the eastern side of the state for those headed to Gonzaga or Washington State.
California schools like USC, Cal Poly and Berkeley were also popular destinations.
East of the Mississippi River, there were pins in Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York City and Boston.
The world map was largely bare, but there were a few exceptions, including a pin in the Middle East for a student heading to U.S. Navy Seal training.
Landon Webber is also headed abroad: He was accepted into Queenstown Resort College in New Zealand, where he plans to study hospitality management.
“It’s a really hands-on school, which is why I’m going there, because I’m a hands-on person,” said Webber, who has citizenship in New Zealand because of family members who are natives.
“If it’s just theoretical, it’s not going to work, but if you’re doing stuff where you’re involved in the workforce — and we’re working while we’re at the school — you just get that much more experience than just learning about it in textbooks.”
Rachel Zigman is also leaving Sammamish far behind so she can study business and law at Michigan State University.
“I love the snow,” Zigman said of choosing the school. “I like grassy campuses, and I’m originally from Ohio, so it’s really close to my family. And I got offered admission to their academic scholars program, so that’s helped.”
Lim is going to be a third-generation Gamecock at the University of South Carolina, where she plans to double-major in international business and marketing.
“It’s the first school I heard back from, and it’s the only school I’d applied to at that point — I applied back in November,” she said.
While they were busy celebrating their future plans, students at Senior Destination Day also took time to look back at where they’ve been.
Webber, who moved from Singapore to Sammamish in eighth grade, said he’ll miss his track and field teammates most of all.
“Just how welcoming everyone was here was a big difference,” he said of coming to Eastlake. “I found some great friends that I’m just going to keep in contact with.”
Zigman ran cross country for the past three years, and has been in the same advanced math classes with many people since they were at Inglewood Middle School.
“I doubt college will be the same social feeling,” she said.
Lim has friends from her days at McAuliffe Elementary and Inglewood, and their lengthy history is about to come to an end. Eastlake seniors have final exams on June 9-10, say farewell at a June 11 assembly, and graduate at Seattle’s Key Arena on June 12.
“This is the kickstart of the senior-year craziness,” Lim said, “because we have AP testing and graduation, baccalaureate and prom and all that. This is the first landmark day of all that.”