On August 25th 2025, at 6am, a Costa Mesa High School tradition took place: The Senior Sunrise. As students met at the football field, everyone set up their blankets in groups on the turf of Mustang Field. The future graduates were taking pictures and having a good time, waiting for the sunrise.
As the time came to see the sunrise, people were excited and were guessing the colors of the sky. When the time came for the sunrise to happen, the sky was still dark. Everyone waited until 7 AM, hoping to see the beautiful colors of the sky, but instead only saw the pearl white clouds.
Everyone started to lose hope, and some were disappointed to feel like they woke up for nothing. As the seniors that had shown up decided to take a group photo, everyone had left, missing the sunrise when it officially happened. The sky finally gave us a beautiful orange pearl color, for those who remained.
Senior Sunrise is a beautiful tradition for our school and students, but is also an event that taps into the hopes and expectations for the coming year. It was a bit upsetting to feel like it didn’t live up to expectations.
As the students talked amongst themselves, some said it would have been better to have a “Senior Sunset” instead of sunrise. Had it been a sunset event, more students would be able to show up and experience this wonderful event, and they would potentially be able to spend more time together to mark the occasion.
As one Costa Mesa High school senior said, “This is a fun and exciting tradition, but there isn’t a 100 percent chance that we will get a real sunrise. There is always going to be a sunset and everyone is already awake, and it would just be better to have it, even if it’s not at school and somewhere else.”
