This year, the Richard Montgomery SGA announced the inception of a brand new event: Senior Unity Day. Branded as “one last day of summer”, the event was created in order to reinvigorate the senior class’ spirit for their final year at RM.

The event was announced to all seniors through their English classes with a video ad. This humorous video depicted several students, among them class president Zack Khan and senior class president Michael Riederer, joyously escaping a boring class to attend Senior Unity Day. The advertisement ended with the image of one boy sadly left behind, and the tagline “Turn in your form!”

The day of the event, September 18th, all seniors attended their first period classes, and then a grade level meeting which highlighted graduation requirements and senior events throughout the year. Following the grade level meeting, seniors attending the event embarked on buses to Smokey Glen Park in Gaithersburg.

Once they arrived, students were given free reign of the park to play volleyball, Frisbee, mini-golf, or simply sit and talk with friends. Friend groups merged and grew as people were brought together by a love of fun. At lunch, students were offered an all-you-can-eat supply of burgers, hot dogs, brownies, and chips.

Three staff-organized moments defined the day. First, a water balloon toss contest got everyone laughing and a little wet. Then, the staff organized a massive game of capture the flag. Finally, the day ended with a group picture, and the separate friend groups of the RM senior classed merged into one sea of black and gold shouting “Beat Rockville!”

While the event was a great success, some students chose not to come. Some saw the day—designed to bring the class together—as an excuse to skip school altogether. On the other end of the spectrum, some students were unwilling to miss class for a day. Hopefully, after hearing about the success of the event, everyone will participate next year.

by Jared Stolove