[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][nectar_slider location=”Senior Stool” arrow_navigation=”true” desktop_swipe=”true”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]As a tradition since the opening of the school among choir students, “senior stool” brings a combination of tears, laughs and bittersweet goodbye speeches. After bringing out a stool at the end of the first year of choir, head choir director Rachel Forester coined the phrase “senior stool” which would continue every year. Literally sitting on a stool, seniors share their wisdom to the underclassmen along with memories and closing thoughts on their time in choir.

“I really like senior stool because, in all honesty, it’s not for the seniors,” senior member Naikai Goffney said. “It’s for the underclassmen to get an idea for what’s to come and I think that’s what they really need. They need someone who’s already been through it.”

For many seniors, “senior stool” is a challenge to make it to the end without shedding a few tears. Forester’s top choice in the Varsity Treble Choir Belle Chanson for the senior most likely to finish their speech without crying is four-year member Natalie Cuesta, but all the seniors in Belle finished their speeches without emotional interruption.

After all the speeches, with a three-minute time limit, the class comes together to give the seniors a final goodbye hug and wipe away their own tears.

“We’re such a big group that the opportunity is so slim at the very end of school,” Forester said. “It gives them an opportunity to share without a teacher calling on them to say something. What they say may apply to life after, what life in choir has been to them. They may be able to share what people have been inspirational to them and it’s a feel-good time.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]