The smell of bacon fills the air, followed by seniors reciting traditional Friday night sports chants  from the pit next to the cafeteria. Students then gathered in the courtyard on March 5 for the annual senior sunrise and bacon fry which usually happens prior to the Texas vs. Arkansas football game. However, considering the event was canceled in September, these traditions are being revived like never before. 

“Me and Ben Depriest came up with the rescheduling of this event for the Arkansas baseball game tonight since the Texas v.s. Arkansas football game was canceled in fall,” senior Trey Lavender said. “This event means so much to me because all of the seniors are able to come together despite COVID-19 and still celebrate together and make memories.”

While the administration wants the student body to experience annual traditions, student safety remains their top priority. With certain coronavirus protocols being enforced, these traditions were fit into the tight schedule with minor adjustments. 

“It’s a tradition to have our bacon fry before the Texas v.s. Arkansas game, but during that week, we weren’t able to have it due to COVID and the game got canceled,” Head Principal Carla Dupree said. “I’m super excited we’re able to do this. We had a great turnout this morning. We have the masks in place, but we weren’t able to have parents come unfortunately, especially dads, who usually work the grills. We had faculty who volunteered to be here to do that so we could still have the smell of a bacon.”

The COVID-19 pandemic mitigation protocols prevented seniors from volunteering to step behind the grill and serve the food. To compromise, culinary arts students individually packaged each meal. 

“I woke up at 4 a.m. and I got to the school at 5 a.m. to start cooking the bacon and preparing for this event,” culinary student Reagan Head said. “We made bacon and biscuits and put them in clear containers that we handed out today. People can just grab and go instead of touching everything. This is actually the first time culinary has been involved in catering for the bacon fry.”

Despite the hassle of having to set an early alarm in order to get to the school by 6:15 a.m., students, including remote learning seniors, attended the gathering to converse with friends, eat a complimentary breakfast and make life-long memories. 

“To be honest, I wasn’t going to come to the event because some of my closest friends weren’t coming. I was like ‘I don’t know if a bunch of the seniors that I knew would be here,’ but then my friend convinced me to come because due to COVID, we don’t really get much this year. We have to take advantage of all the little things including things like the senior sunrise,” senior Jalena McDermott said. “It’s really special to be here with all my friends. It’s kind of like reminiscing over our past four years, and we’re finally getting to experience our senior year, it’s so nice.”