As high school is officially coming to a close, seniors at Franklin High in Elk Grove partake in many different traditions, especially toward the end of the year. 

With a variety of different traditions –  personal and general – including sunrise and sunset events, field trips and others, these upcoming graduates prepare to officially say goodbye to their school.

Several seniors and staff members said they’re both excited and bittersweet about the journeys they’re experiencing leading up to their May 22 graduation.

Brooklyn Sandlin, the class of 2025 president, participated and helped plan most of the senior events such as incorporating parking spots, Senior Assassin and others. 

“We were able to decorate our parking spots, which is a tradition specific to Franklin,” she said. “I’m very grateful that we were able to do that this year because I feel like it was a great bonding day for our class, before school starts in the fall, and I’m just really happy we’re able to experience that together for our last year.”

With the many senior events Sandlin planned, she said her main goal was to get everyone involved. 

“With a lot of the senior events I’ve incorporated this year, like senior parking spots and senior assassin, it really helped bring our class together and get us all involved in our last year,” Sandlin said.

Outside of general traditions, she explained how she has some personal traditions, too.

“One of my favorite personal senior traditions that I’ve been doing is taking a lot of pictures and vlogging with my friends at activities, at different events and some sporting events,” Sandlin said. “I also have printed out my little senior portraits and written on the back of all of them to give to underclassmen, and also just all my senior friends.”

These personal and school-sponsored traditions, Sandlin said, allow for long-lasting memories after high school.

“(They will) help me remember my time here at Franklin, and really allow me to reflect back on all the good memories we’ve all had together, especially with vlogging throughout the year,” she said.

Overall, Sandlin said she is proud looking back and acknowledging how hard she’s personally worked and seeing how well the senior class bonded.

“I did my best as senior class president, and I feel like I was open to new things and not afraid to put myself out there,” she said. “I’ve worked hard to achieve new goals I set for myself, and I’m just very proud of us as a senior class.”

Another senior, Tyler Cody, is currently a student rally director – in charge of planning and executing all the school rallies – and he has participated in as many senior activities as possible.

Cody said Franklin has several unique traditions that other schools don’t.

“I don’t think every school does a skit and a float stuff like we do, so I think that makes fall homecoming super fun,” he said. “We have a prom expo, which is a little niche and different from other schools.”

As a rally director, Cody is confident that Franklin’s rallies are like no other, with elements such as senior chants and spirit stick traditions.

“Other schools do rallies, but I don’t think they do them at the level that we do a spirit stick,” he said. “Leading the spirit stick, we go through all four classes, seeing which class has the most spirit, starting with freshmen then working our way up to the seniors.

“Once we get to the seniors, everyone gets loud and makes a ton of noise, chanting ‘ooh-ah, you wish you were a senior, oh-ah.’ It’s kind of a fun, funny chant, making fun of other classes.”

As high school is coming to an end, Cody said he is excited to create as many last-minute memories as he can.

“That last week – going to Sun Splash, doing all the fun (things) like Senior Sunset, Senior Breakfast – (was) good way to end a good four years of Franklin,” he said. “It’s going to end off in a bang since I’ll be creating some last-minute memories with my friends that I’ve grown up with my entire life.”

Joyce Wang, Franklin’s 2024-2025 associated student body president, said one of her favorite personal traditions is having people sign her yearbook.

“I’ve purposely not read them,” Wang said. “I haven’t read any of them so far because I’m going to read it all the night before graduation.”

She said having kid backpacks and starting Senior Assassin are some of her favorite senior traditions.

“It was definitely super fun to reminisce and have fun with childhood favorites,” she said. “I also had a lot of fun with Senior Assassin too. Franklin didn’t do it last year, so this year was the first year that we did it. I was super glad we were able to do that as well.

With all of the upperclassmen events, she said it really enhances high school memories.

“All the class activities throughout the fall season that we do every year, the rallies we have, dances we have, and junior prom and junior ball for upperclassmen – these are all events that you really only have once throughout your high school years,” Wang said. “That’s where some of the most memorable moments are. The memories you make and the fun you have at these events will always go such a long way.”

Being ASB president, Wang said she wants to end high school on a high note.

“Hopefully my experiences and commitment to the school over the last four years have been helpful and have been used for underclassmen as they navigate the rest of their high school careers, whether that is ASB and crew athletics or clubs on campus,” she said.

Bryan Kilby, the Franklin student activities director for 17 years, is proud to have watched students grow up from new high schoolers into mature seniors.

“In my position, I get to have some of the students as freshmen in my freshman leadership class, and then to watch them grow as not only ninth graders, but then 10th graders, 11th graders and 12th graders,” he said. “It’s so exciting to watch them mature and grow, help them through this chapter of life, and then get them ready for the next chapter.“

Kilby said he has had the opportunity to watch senior traditions vary over the years.

“The traditions that were popular in 2009 might be different than in 2025, so it’s exciting and neat to see how each class is kind of unique in its own way, and it’s fun to help them create those memories that they’ll hopefully have for a lifetime,” he said.

Creating traditions are known to make senior year extra special.

“It gives them an opportunity to interact with their peers for the last few times before they all go off to college or work or into the military, kind of go down their own separate paths,” Kilby said.

Dawn Williams has been teaching several subjects since the opening of Franklin High School in 2002 and had the pleasure of watching students grow throughout her time as an educator.

Williams is delighted to see students develop from shy to confident as they grow older.

“What keeps me going is seeing the kids grow from the beginning of the school year to the end of the school year,” she said. “They mature, they become more confident, they learn how to meet challenges, not wanting to speak in front of a group to push themselves creatively in a good way, and then seeing them be successful in a project.”

Williams calls herself “lucky” to build strong relationships with her students.

“I cultivate relationships in that class and bonds between the students and peers, and I think we bring together kids from all walks of life, which I think is really cool,” she said. “We kind of become a family because we’re there so early in the morning, and sometimes we’re working on projects late. I really feel like we really try to cultivate a very collaborative environment where we’re there to support each other.”

Seeing these students grow up to eventually go on to graduate, Williams said the sadness she experiences as a teacher at the end of a school year is inevitable.

“At the end of the year, it’s bittersweet, because I really miss the kids when they leave,” she said. “And I know that happens every year, but I obviously wish them all the best.”