Last Tuesday, May 12th, seniors skipped classes to go to the Thermalito Afterbay, a diversion pool downstream of Lake Oroville, to celebrate their imminent graduation.
Activities consisted of volleyball circles, kayaking, paddle boarding, sunbathing, and overall enjoying the water and sun that the May weather provided. Hip-hop music could be heard bumping in the background of the whole event, to the enjoyment of some, and the chagrin of others. “Who is on aux?” could be heard throughout the span of the time spent on the beach.
There was a plethora of wildlife present at the Afterbay, including, but not limited to, dragonflies, frogs, dragonfly nymphs (which swim quite quickly through the water and made many of the toughest seniors splash away in surprise), and clams. The clams turned out to be more dangerous than they appeared initially, because senior Brian Patton stepped on one such shell, which broke inside his foot and had to be extracted by Henry Watkins’ first aid skills.
Despite various misfortunes, the event turned out to be quite enjoyable, laughter and joking speckled conversations in many of the social groups represented, and the turnout was quite good, with over half the senior class showing up at one point or another. Senior ditch was just one of many “last hurrahs” the class of 2026 gets to participate in as finals and the graduation ceremony creep closer.
