Michael Fabatz, Sarah Johnson, Miranda Crews & Sarah Lawrence
Fentonian
Fenton HS
1st Place
Division 2, Yearbook
Feature Writing – Student Life
As darkness approached and temperatures dropped, seniors armed themselves withblankets and pillows, lining up at the front entrance of the school. Using video games and cards to pass the time, the group watched the line continue to grow as dawn arrived. The seniors had one objective: to get a prime parking spot.
“I was really jealous of everyone who brought stuff to do because I just showed up empty-handed,” senior Brent Nakkula said. “If I could do it again I would’ve spent the night and made better plans with my friends.”
Unlike Nakkula and other members of the senior class, senior Ellen Sage was more prepared, making sure she and her friends were the first to arrive.
“It was my first year doing this; my friends and I were the first ones to get there at 8:30 p.m. the night before,” Sage said. “There were about 40 people who spent the night, and we all tried to stay awake, but I eventually fell asleep. Lots of seniors brought stuff to entertain themselves with, like a game cube, cards, penny boards and even a television.”
Once seniors completed the scheduling process and received their parking spaces, 10 hours later, the juniors began to arrive at the school’s front doors to repeat the ritual.
“My friend Jillian and I got there at 10 p.m., but not a lot of juniors showed up until 2 a.m.,” junior Sabrina Cleis said. “We almost stayed up all night, playing the ‘Heads Up’ app and watching ‘Pitch Perfect.’ Next year I want to get there first, but I don’t want to go as early as I did this year; we plan to bring many more people to make the long wait more bearable.”
After hours of anticipation, the upperclassmen picked up their class schedules and parking spots. The juniors and seniors returned home to catch up on some much needed sleep and to wait for the first day of school.