Muck-up day pranks have traditionally marked the dying days of high school for Australian students but a local twist on a social media trend is seeing year 12 students mark a new dawn in ways to honour the new beginning awaiting them once exams are over.
For the class of 2024, gathering in the pre-dawn light to watch the sunrise with their teachers and classmates is a fresh way to celebrate their achievement of completing their secondary school journey.
At Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney, school captain Sarah McPhail and fellow students celebrated on Bondi beach this week.
“We sat and watched the sunrise and went for a swim. Everyone was a bit cold, but there was this nervous excitement,” says McPhail.
“There’s a sense of nervousness about finishing, but excitement because we were able to achieve so much.”
The ‘senior sunrise’ concept originates from the US, where students gather early on the first day of classes in their final year. They also finish the year with senior sunset.
In Australian schools, local Year 12s have adopted the idea of marking the end of classes, before exams start, with a sunrise gathering.
“As a group we have been through a journey together, so there was a real sense of connectedness,” McPhail says.
In Avalon Beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the students from Barrenjoey High School claim to be one of the first Australian high schools to embrace the event.
On Monday morning this week, around 140 students, as well as parents and teachers, met at Palm Beach at 5am before walking to the Barrenjoey Lighthouse in time for sunrise.
“It was a bit of an early start, but I would say it’s definitely worth it,” says school captain Noah Smith.
Alternative to muck-up day
Deputy principal Jeff Brown says the school first did the sunrise walk with Year 12s in 2001 as one of several activities that had offered a safer alternative to the traditional muck-up day.
Katie McCrindle attends Brigidine College in St Ives and joined her year 12 classmates on Tuesday this week after one of her classmates saw a senior sunrise event on TikTok.
“It was definitely a struggle getting up that early, but it was honestly really nice,” McCrindle says.
“It was a bit overcast but once you could see the sun coming through the clouds, I think we were all just thinking, ‘This is heaven.'”
