Senior Issues a valuable day for graduates

By Chloe Nash, Staff Writer

May 10, 2023

ROCKLAND- After their last day of classes on May 23, seniors will return two days later for a full day of what Rockland High calls “Senior Issues”.

Senior Issues is a program that is a graduation requirement that includes getting all seniors CPR certified and substance abuse prevention as well as other useful life skills.

This year will be the 31st year of Senior Issues, and Principal Dr. John Harrison said, “senior issues [is] an opportunity to think about what life skills should our graduates have before they go.”

The program has been switched from two days to one based on student feedback and Dr. Harrison said, “We realized we do much of the programming in Senior Issues in our curriculum, so we did not need the two days for senior issues.”

While nearing the end of senior year, Dr. Harrison hopes to see seniors have positive attitudes leaving high school. 

Dr. Harrison also hopes to see, “a real strong finish and willingness to participate and be engaged.”

Florence Pang, the RHS school nurse and Senior Issues organizer, said, “It’s something that gives them information that we want them to have as they move out of the high school and move on with their lives.”

Senior Issues was started by the late Ann Phelps, a former school nurse, and current RHS nurse Ms. Pang is working to keep the program going in honor of Phelps.

The program has changed its activities from previous years and some have been taken out of senior issues to teach seniors at a different time.

Some activities done in the past years were yoga, personal finance, and safety like skin cancer. 

Ms. Pang is working on making the program more engaging by soon adding in a new activity that is supposed to highlight how everyone is connected and their similarities. 

“Hoping to just keep it to something that the kids are really excited about and can get a lot of value out of,” Ms. Pang said. 

One student who thinks the program is a worthwhile activity is Kiara Miguel. 

She said, “I feel like it’s smart, like having everyone know how to do CPR, and just like real-life things you don’t learn in class, and it’s really beneficial.”

Another senior Sydney Blaney, is looking forward to Senior Issues and said, “It’s kind of like a way to step into the next chapter of our lives and learn a little bit about life outside of high school.”

As students apply for jobs, some include being CPR certified, like Blaney’s. She looks forward to being able to get certified in this program instead of having to get it done somewhere else. 

Blaney added, “It’s just nice to have these life skills going into college and being on my own. It’s important to know a little bit more about the world."