What would you do if it poured down rain on your last day of school?

Well, if you’re anything like the St. George’s class of 2021 on April 29, your day plan would include a mud-filled kickball game, a cleansing dip in the lake, followed by a party in the pool.

Kickball – a time-honored St. George’s tradition – took place during the lunch period after many seniors finished their provided Chick-Fil-A boxed lunches. While the kickball game had been planned in advance, jumping into both the lake and the St. George’s Olympic-sized swimming pool spiraled off an idea outgoing seniors Heath Arick and Bo Thrasher had.

The majority of what is now being dubbed “Senior Splash Day” took place during period one, or the third academic block of the day.

“Bo decided at the beginning of the day that he was jumping in the pool,” Arick said. “And he comes to me and he’s like ‘after the kickball game, we’re jumping in the pool during period one, because we had Math Mysteries. We’re like ‘yo, let’s clean off in the lake, and go to the pool.’”

The plan started as just Arick and Thrasher and some friends, but nearly the entire grade of students ended up following them to both the lake and the pool. Seniors weren’t the only ones getting in on the fun, as they encouraged teachers across campus to dive in with them.

“We sprinted to the school, ran all over the school and grabbed a bunch of teachers from classrooms,” Thrasher said.

“We got Mr. Sullivan out of his room, we got Mr. Timmons, Mr. Miller” Arick added, before being interrupted by the raucous cheering sparked by the arrival of Dr. Monk.

Ms. Emily Metz, 11th-grade dean, was also convinced to jump in the pool by students, even with her knee’s torn ligaments.

“This year’s senior class has been through a lot,” Ms. Metz said. “And I felt like if we could give them one last day of joy, then so be it, if I can contribute to that.”

Ms. Metz, also the AP Government teacher, said she wasn’t worried about being wet for the rest of the day, but was a little worried about how her class would fare on the AP Government exam this coming Monday since large portions of both periods one and two missed the class’s final review session.

Arick, Thrasher and some friends were prepared to take a dip, with swim attire packed away, but other seniors were not at all prepared to have a splash.

“I went into the lost and found and got these pants to be able to jump.” Senior Caroline Hill said, pointing to the baggy St. George’s branded sweatpants she now wore.

The pool party was stopped near the beginning of period two, in part because of the school’s concern for the violation of COVID-19 protocols that were occurring in the pool house. Many seniors were subsequently dismissed from their last academic class early.

While the spontaneity of the event may not ever be fully re-captured, some seniors do hope that they’ve started a new St. George’s tradition.

“I was actually talking to Mr. Densford about it at the lake, this needs to become a tradition,” Hill said. “He was like ‘the juniors already asked for a water hose next year for kickball.’”

Arick added that he also thinks the day’s routine should develop into an annual occurrence.

“At least the kickball game, but if not the kickball game, jump[ing] into the pool has got to be a tradition,” Arick said. “Swimsuits on the last day.”