By Malaya Madison and Ella Harvey
Last Friday was a day that some seniors had been waiting for their entire Lovett careers. It’s the day when the hallways are engulfed in the odor of Sharpies, and there is barely any space to walk. We were practically late to newspaper, attempting to wade through the crowd of seniors…signing each other’s shirts.
The long-standing tradition involves seniors painting the logo of the university they will be attending next fall on one of their (now-old) white senior shirts. Then classmates, not just seniors, sign the backs of their friends’ shirts, and this continues throughout the day.
Lots of seniors get their shirts painted or designed by people whom they pay because they might not be as artistically inclined. Ashley Traylor’s brother, Gavin, asked Ashley (a very good art student) to paint the UPenn logo on his shirt, and, after talking to her about it, she felt “very stressed because I also have a lot of other school work aside from painting Gavin’s shirt.”
Multiple seniors expressed their delight on this day because it marks the beginning of their last week, also known as Senior Week, during which all seniors receive NUDs every day and end with a very nostalgic all-school closing chapel.
We wanted to go around and talk to the seniors about their excitement on this day. Tanisha Naik ‘26 was among the seniors who weren’t sure what journey they would embark on over the next four years until recently.
“I would say at the beginning of the year, I didn’t really know where I wanted to go,” she said. “So I would always procrastinate all my applications.”
At the beginning of senior year, Tanisha was very stressed because she “didn’t even know where I wanted to go.”
After all the procrastination and indecision, Tanisha will be attending George Washington University this fall.
“It’s right in the heart of DC,” she said, which is something Tanisha loves because she is majoring in International Affairs.
When asked how she felt about finally knowing where she’s going, she shared, “Now all the stress has been relieved,” because now she knows “where I’m going for the next four years, YAY!”
Tanisha recalled how she felt in this exact moment (shirt day) last year, being a junior. “I was getting sad because I realized that’s going to be us in a year,” Tanisha shared.
She was right, that is the senior class right now, and emotions are high.
Kai LaBarrie, who is committed to Murray State for soccer, claimed that this day is very bittersweet, “Because we’re walking around, everyone, all the seniors are like, ‘Oh, can I sign your shirt,’ even if you guys don’t talk that much or you’re not really friends,” she said.
Now that she knows where she is going to university, “it was a huge weight off my shoulders when I found out where I was going to go.”
We also talked to Zaynab Farid, who called the day chaotic, but “I guess we’re all just feeling a lot of nostalgia because we’ve known each other for a really long time, and it’s crazy to think this is the last time we’re going to wear this uniform.”
Zaynab has known where she is going to college since January, but also knows people who just committed a few days before the college shirt-signing day. “I know they’re definitely feeling really relieved,” she said, “because it’s really nice not worrying about it.”
It was also interesting to hear the teachers’ perspectives on the almost graduated class. Mrs. Gilmore spoke about the growth she observed in the class. “I will say that the class of 2026 is very special in my eyes because I feel like they were collectively more old souls,” she said. She mentioned that, instead of some kids having an academic “glow-up,” most students have been working hard for all four years.
Mrs. Gilmore also announced her excitement about the Class of 2026 moving on to college. “I know that they’re right on the precipice of such an amazing part of life. And those college years are few and far between, and after that, like really, there’s no set trajectory in life,” Mrs. Gilmore explained.
She is also a Lovett graduate and said she gets very emotional around this time of year, especially when she has a reunion at Lovett, because it is very exciting. “I’m especially excited for this class. They’ve been great.”
Ella and I decided to venture to the middle school to find teachers who taught the current seniors, to see if their emotions were as heightened as the seniors’ on this special day.
We spoke to Coach Taylor, MS In-House Sub and MS Basketball Coach.
Although Coach Taylor isn’t in the high school to see the seniors day-to-day, he has experience with them growing up.
While Coach Taylor was helping out with Senior Night for the Boys’ Basketball team, he felt bittersweet because those were some of the kids he had coached on his 8th Grade team.
Seeing them graduate now, “It lets me know when I’m getting old,” Coach Taylor shared.
“It’s tough to see them go because you see how much they’ve matured,” he said.
Coming back from a meeting with Coach Taylor, we met senior Elle Albert, who is going to Howard University in D.C.
She had known she was going to Howard since around Christmas time, so the second semester of senior year was a breeze.
Elle shared that this semester is “just getting to school every morning and getting the email from Ms. Gilmore in the morning saying, ‘Hey. Where are you at?”
That was pretty much the spring semester in a nutshell, until senior shirt day. When the caps of the Sharpies came off, and laughter filled the hallways, Elle’s final days as a senior became more surreal.
“Seeing everybody in their college shirt and signing their shirts, and people signing my shirt because it’s like, dang, I’m not going to see these people every day anymore,” she explained.
Everyone in the Upper School has the same advisory for four years, so seeing these people every day, including advisory, the people you are surrounded by almost every morning.
She also mentioned that she went from a closed-off advisory as a freshman to now a lively advisory and “having such a great relationship with everyone, it’s just a little sad, but I’m happy for everyone. I’m really excited for everyone to see what they do, if that makes sense.”
Even though it’s “really sad and surreal,” it is bittersweet at the time.
When asked how she felt going on this new journey, she shared, “It’s really exciting. Exciting times. I’m pretty excited.”
Elle’s excitement was hard to miss.
Unlike Elle, Wyatt Botha ‘26 just found out he was going to Auburn University at the end of March. “It was nice to know after that, finally. So it’s been much more chill since then,” he shared.
Wyatt realized that college decisions can be unpredictable.
“The places where people are going are very different than the places people thought they were going,” he shared.
Wyatt mentioned that some of his classmates have known where they were going since kindergarten because of family legacy, but his decision wasn’t as predictable.
“If you asked me in eighth grade or kindergarten, even, I would not have guessed Auburn. So even this earlier this year, I wouldn’t have guessed Auburn,” Wyatt shared.
For seniors, signing shirts isn’t just a tradition; it’s a visible countdown on their final days of high school.
