June 12, 2023 by Ciara Meyer (‘23)
While one Saratoga Springs High School (SSHS) student described their 2022-2023 school year as “togatastic,” the most frequent answer to the question “what one word would you use to describe this year,” was a lot less exciting. Out of 193 responses, 19 students simply called their year “stressful.”
To conclude the school year and offer one final review about SSHS by SSHS, The Lightning Rod conducted a voluntary survey of over 190 students. The survey received responses from 53 freshmen, 50 sophomores, 40 juniors, and 50 seniors. Shared by Student Council, teachers, and other SSHS community members, the paper’s goal was to gain a (somewhat) accurate sense for how Saratoga students felt about these past 180 or so days.
Students started off positive, sharing what school-hosted events were the best of the year. The homecoming game and senior ball were fan favorites, collectively receiving about 40% of the votes for the best school run event. Although homecoming may have been in the fall, over 50% of students agreed that, overall, quarter 4 was the most fun time of the year. Sophomore Carol Wang said quarter 4 was the most fun because, “after the AP exams my workload decreased a lot and most of my classes have been really laid back.”
With graduation approaching, it’s no wonder that nearly 75% of seniors picked quarter 4 as their most fun quarter this year. “My favorite quarter has been 4th because my workload has been light and I’ve been doing a lot of fun things,”said senior Brittyn Daley. Additionally, around 60% said senior year was their best year of high school. A few of the dissenters had clear reasons as to why they preferred a different time in their high school career. Andrew Hope said junior year was his favorite because, “that’s when I had my greatest growth as a human and a student–I made new friends and got really good grades. The confidence I built in junior year carried over into senior year.”
Student feedback was certainly not all sunshine and rainbows, though, and seniors had their fair share of things to complain about. When asked what their least favorite thing about their time at SSHS was, 11% of respondents said something about bad teachers. Others railed against the administration, parking, or a simple lack of air conditioning. “Please get some AC up in here,” pleaded one anonymous student.
And it seems like students may not be the most fond of SSHS’ graduation related policies, either. Currently, SSHS seniors are not allowed to customize or decorate their grad caps before walking the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) stage. Over 90% of seniors said they thought graduates should be able to decorate their caps. Additionally, the amount of cords and medals SSHS seniors can wear at graduation is fairly limited, but nearly 95% of seniors said they believed graduates should be able to celebrate their accomplishments and participation in organizations by wearing cords and medals.
While seniors were relatively united in their opinions about graduation attire, perspectives on reporting of the “Top Ten” were a bit more divided. The top ten refers to the ten students graduating with the highest grade point averages (GPAs) in their class. Up until the class of 2021, SSHS reported the “top ten” publicly, and had the valedictorian and salutatorian speak at graduation. In 2022, SSHS instead chose to give a varying number of students with high GPAs titles like “Summa Cum Laude,” and did not report who the “top ten” students were.
Although about 80% of students said they believed the “top ten” should be reported at graduation, some students offered arguments against reporting the “top ten.” One anonymous student wrote to The Lightning Rod that reporting the “top 10 is great in theory but leads to unimaginable cheating and stress between students.” Another respondent disagreed, and stated, “we give the star basketball player an MVP trophy. We can at least give those who did so well academically recognition.”
Regardless of their opinions on graduation, seniors do seem relatively set for their futures and happy about some of their memories at SSHS. Over 25% of seniors said their favorite thing about their time at SSHS had something to do with their friends. “I feel like I finally found my real friends, which I struggled with for a while,” said Daley. And despite the lack of air conditioning or drama with teachers or lack of fun at certain events, having good friends makes it all seem a bit better.