Last month, seniors spent the night at Townsend Harris High School from 7PM to 7AM  for the Senior Lock-In event. Participating  in numerous planned activities to keep students awake with their friends all throughout the night, the seniors made some lasting memories with graduation on the horizon.

Senior Class President Benjamin Babayev organized the event. “It was very stressful, there were doubtful times, but we’ve been wanting to do this for so many points in the year now. …I’m glad it all worked out in the end.” The process of making the lock-in happen, which mainly was done by Benjamin, Senior Advisor Blayne Gelbman, and Coordinator of Student Activities Jaime Baranoff, involved a lot of planning, Benjamin said.

“[The event happened] really because this particular senior class, especially the SU leadership and the senior class, worked really hard to make it happen,” said Ms. Baranoff.

Benjamin said he wanted the seniors to spend their last months at THHS creating a lot of heartfelt memories. Some of the night’s activities included karaoke, dancing, trivia, watching movies, and engaging in sports. 

“I hope everyone had a memorable time, [and] from the feedback I’ve heard, they did, ” Benjamin said. 

Senior Alex Cho said, “I honestly really enjoyed the Senior Lock-In…and I feel that it is safe to say that it was a success.” 

Senior Erica Jin said, “the event was aimed towards having the senior class bond with each other as our time is coming to an end.”

Some seniors had spent the night in the school during the Halloween Reading Initiative event that occurred last October. They said their experience at the “read-in” encouraged them to do it again.  

Senior Yuheng Lin said, “A lot of us had already participated in the read-in sleepover and my friends wanted to do it again just because it’s like a unique experience…[we went] especially since we’re seniors and we only have a couple months left together.”