Earlier this school year, the Class of 2026 celebrated the beginning of their senior year at Senior Sunrise, an annual Townsend Harris High School tradition where the senior class symbolically greets their final year at THHS with the rise of the sun. The students arrived at Queens College’s practice field at 6:00 AM for the event.
“Everybody was outside, the sun was shining. We’ve had years where it’s very cold in the morning. Everyone’s in winter coats, but this year it was just a beautiful day, a beautiful sunrise,” said Coordinator of Student Activities Jamie Baranoff
A camera was set up to record memories and take pictures at the event. Seniors gathered to take pictures behind a poster that read, “Senior Sunrise 2026.” They also created an instagram reel about where they see themselves in ten years.
According to Ms. Baranoff, preparation for the event began in the Spring with coordination with Queens College, which granted THHS permission to use their field for the event. In an interview with The Classic, Ms. Baranoff said, “My role really was just getting the date on the calendar last spring. [I helped] to get the legal approvals that we needed from the DOE to give to Queens College, [and] just helped to communicate the event, [and] be the chaperone in the event.”
Members of the Student Union were also involved in the planning process. According to Senior Class Vice President Bianca Chen, their roles mainly consisted of organizing activities for the event and creating posters as props for photos.
“At first, it was kind of stressful because [we had] a very short deadline that we had to organize everything by, ” Bianca said. “But I was really happy with it, and [it seems like students] had a fun time.”
Though Senior Sunrise is typically when seniors open the letters they had written to their future selves as freshmen, this part of the tradition was reserved for Senior Brunch this year. The Class of 2026 will be the last to participate in this tradition on paper, as all of the classes after have written their letters digitally.
In interviews with The Classic, students who attended the event shared generally positive experiences.
“I really enjoyed [the] senior sunrise because we were out there for a really long time, and we got there before the sun came up,” said senior Ella Nam. “And it was honestly really spacious, so everyone wasn’t clustered together.”
Senior Mikayla Fong said that events like these help to bring the senior class closer despite their differences. “[We] come together as one class, and it promotes companionship [and] friendship,” she said.
“Senior Sunrise was great. It was my first year being a part of it. I think the students really enjoyed it. They came and they played games, and they took a ton of pictures, and I think overall, it was just successful,”said senior advisor Melissa Nakos.
