Should Senior Wills Return?
A fun fact of South High’s past, “senior wills,” has resurfaced thanks to social studies teacher Maria Walinski-Peterson.
Senior wills were a way for seniors to leave something behind to their younger peers. These short wills allowed seniors to distribute accumulated privileges to remaining freshmen, sophomores and juniors. Seniors willed such things as lunch tables and real or imagined roles. At the time, South’s student newspaper, The Tooter, published the wills.
The senior will tradition eventually died off due to various reasons such as Covid-19 and the transition of the printed newspaper to digital.
Walinski believes that the return of senior wills would encourage more reading of The Tooter and bring back a once-cherished tradition experienced by students of the past including Walinski who is a member of South’s class of 1988.
Walinski added that senior wills could allow students to feel as though they have made a contribution. “It was a small part of my experience here at South that I enjoyed … perhaps other students would also.”
Senior wills could be an engaging tradition for students to look forward to as a way to end their high school years and a way to bring some nostalgia to alums. Should senior wills return?
(AI Generated)
