The Senior Sunrise event for the class of 2026 took place on Sept. 5, 2025. Seniors gathered on the football field with food, blankets and posters to watch the sunrise and spend time with friends.
Senior Student Council members Kyna Patel, Porter Snopko, Thais Salinas and Samahi Shah were behind the event. They coordinated dates, spread the word about the event and arranged the borrowing of the rainbow parachute. When a weather problem arose, they solved it: “The only bump in the road was the weather. It was supposed to rain on the original date we scheduled, so we had to move it back and make sure everyone knew about the change,” said Shah.
The event began at East with the class of 2024, and has become a tradition ever since. It’s an event that students have been excited about; “A lot of seniors I talked to told me that watching the sunrise with their friends was something they’d been looking forward to since the start of high school,” said Samahi Shah, Student Council Parliamentarian, who helped set up the event.
As the sun rose, there was the classic rainbow parachute that many remember from elementary school. It was a sentimental and fun part of the event for many, “[My favorite part was] the parachute! It was so nostalgic,” said Student Council President Kyna Patel.
“[The parachute] instantly reminded me of elementary school, and it was the first moment that it really hit me that we’re seniors now,” said Shah.
In addition to the rainbow parachute activity, there was a video created to remember the event. “The morning [of Senior Sunrise], I went around taking pictures of seniors in their [2026] sunglasses for a memory video we’re putting together,” said Shah.
“My favorite part of senior sunrise was hanging out with my friends and taking photos since it’s rare that this many people from our grade are together like that,” said Snopko.
Overall, the event had a sentimental feel; it was a time to think about the past, the future and a time to spend with friends and have fun.
