On October 3rd, 2025, before kickoff at the Seward High School final home football game of the regular season, we celebrated our seniors. Senior Night has been a long-standing tradition each year for our athletes.
On the last home game of each sports season, we choose to honor the seniors and their families. When they are invited to take the field or court, the announcer shares the seniors’ favorite memories in their athletic careers and the words of wisdom they have for the younger athletes in attendance.
Lane Petersen has been playing for the Seahawks all four years, starting both offense and defense since his sophomore year. He says he has had fun playing football, with the highlight being when they won the state championship his sophomore year.
Petersen’s parents are both SHS alumni and enjoyed experiencing Senior Night through their son. Lane’s mother remembers when football at SHS first started in 1996 and how students enjoyed the traditions of homecoming parades and pep rallies with a pep band.
Following Senior Night, halftime featured a newer, yet quickly beloved, tradition called the Hawk Walk. Every senior and kindergartener stood on opposite sides of the field at the endzones and walked towards each other, meeting in the center at the 50-yardline. There, each kindergartener received a flower and scrolled message held by one of the seniors, symbolizing passing their school spirit on to the next generation.
Our high school and middle school principal, Dr. Henry Burns, started this tradition last year with the graduating class of 2025. He said the idea came from a TikTok about a small town located in Kansas that was similar in size to ours. Dr. Burns expressed how he hopes it will become a long-standing tradition similar to Senior Night and how this is one of the events that has increased parent involvement since he became principal.
This year, to build excitement for the occasion, our enthusiastic high schoolers drove a small parade route past the elementary and middle schools, sparking school spirit before the big night. Dr. Burns mentioned in our interview that next year he hopes the parade will follow a longer route through town but still include the younger students.
As our school continues to grow and strengthen its sense of community, we can look forward to many more Senior Nights and Hawk Walks, traditions that are meant to inspire and captivate our town by showing our school spirit.
