Newark Charter held its senior sunrise Monday in the school’s new stadium.
The seniors of Newark Charter School took advantage of their new stadium Monday to mark the first day of school with a sunrise gathering that felt more like a day at the boardwalk than the start of school.
The school tradition included a waffle truck, backyard games, music and a T-shirt giveaway.
Starting with the school’s first senior class in 2016, seniors have kicked off at sunrise, gathering around 6 a.m. to spend an hour watching the sun come up, catching up with friends, playing games and transitioning back into classrooms.
“Having gone to Newark Charter since kindergarten, having this day means a lot to me,” said Samira Morgan. “It’s amazing to look back and see how much the school grew, from having like two grass fields to a whole stadium.”
She described the tradition as a “sendoff” to all the students who grew up together.
This year’s senior sunrise was the first time the 172 seniors were able to congregate in the school’s new sports stadium.
The facility is the latest addition in Newark Charter’s expansion since it opened in 2001. The school went from having classes in parking lot trailers to being indistinguishable from a small university with three school buildings across multiple campuses.
RELATED: Newark Charter completes 21-year expansion
“Personally, this day really is about just growing up, maturing, and being with the same people in an evolving environment since kindergarten,” Morgan said.
Regular classes will start Wednesday, but Monday and Tuesday are “transition days.”
“The seniors will do things with the guidance counselors the rest of the day, like some college application work and then sort of a preview of all the stuff they have to get done in their senior year,” said Sam Golder, head of school.
“A lot of kids are walking up and giving hugs to teachers and administrators that they haven’t seen in a long time. It just sets the stage for their senior year, but it’s also a time to rekindle that camaraderie and get together with your crew.”
Golder, who became head of school in the middle of the last year, was also thinking about the stadium and the campus growth.
“Every little decision in this expansion has had a story behind it,” Golder said, “and it’s just really exciting to see it come to fruition.”
He laughed, remembering how long it took to find the perfect placement of the digital scoreboard. Workers using two poles and a banner walked around the field, listening by walkie talkie to people who were hundreds of yards away in the bleachers.
The location was tweaked several times to find the perfect angle.
The bright, crisp scoreboard sits in the corner of the stadium in front of a backdrop of trees.
A few of the seniors headed into the building a little sweaty after playing football and Spikeball on the new stadium field.
Most went in well fed after fueling up with breakfast and coffee courtesy of the Waffle’n Joe food truck.
While overcast skies prevented a great view of the sunrise, it didn’t dampen the seniors’ enthusiasm.
“It’s a good way to see how everyone’s doing and how my friends feel going into senior year,” said Edward Cobb. “This is our last first day, which was also exciting, so it’s just about having fun celebrating all the years we’ve had together.”
Cobb said he’s looking forward to competing in his last seasons on the wrestling and cross country team.
The new stadium will have a ribbon-cutting at 6:45 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, followed by a field hockey game at 7:15 p.m.
It will be the first game under the lights at the Robert W. Gore Stadium.
There was a note of sadness among the jovial celebration Monday morning at the new stadium.
“It’s definitely a little bit scary,” said Riley Zarzycki. Last year, she said, she watched the seniors have their sunrise tradition, but now that she’s going through the motions, it’s setting in that this will be her last year at the school.
That doesn’t stop her from being excited about all the senior year memories she will make.
The class will bookend their year with celebrations involving the sun.
In the spring, the class of 2023 will gather for a senior sunset following graduation.
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz
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