For every SCIE student, senior week marks the end of their high school journey. After being the observer of three senior weeks, the Class of 2025 reached their time of celebration and farewell. Their fellow juniors, just as they were before, became their audience.
In this article, Eugene from the Class of 2025, and Albert from the Class of 2028, recall their senior week experience through their own different, yet similar perspectives.
01 Water Fight
♦ Eugene: Excited and anticipating, my peers and I made an advanced start for Senior Week through comprehensive preparations, including ‘armoury’ purchases, even before any official announcement on activities.
But having seen three senior weeks, we did have an idea of what might happen, and what we could try doing. The excitement could not be concealed, with people giving spoilers of their freshly arrived water guns, buckets, and many other ‘tools’.
On Monday, lessons ended as they did on every other day in the past four years, with the tune of the bell, familiar to all our ears. Only that A2 students were quietly ‘arming’ themselves, secretly examining their battleground.
♦ Albert: Meanwhile, juniors like me on the other side had just finished our classes. I ran out of the classroom like a jet when I was attracted by the noise rising from the basketball court.
As soon as I left the teaching building, a strong scene of blue invaded my sight. Looking with much care, there were some pools full of water beside our seniors who were standing aside with joyful smiles of mystery.
Before I could observe in detail, a member of SELT had called all graduates together. They stood in 4 rows and started to dance delightedly with joy on their faces regardless of how well they danced.
♦ Eugene: The battle then began with the familiar Superman Dance — with blasters and buckets. A roar of joy blasted off dancing students toward friends who they had shared four years of joy with.
People may mistake this combination of squirt gunshots, loud uproars, and water splashes as a violent battle.
Standing closer, they would see happiness mixed with warmth. Friends and peers are helping out each other, and taking care of each other.
All this became a part of this vibrant moment, forever remembered as part of our teenage years.
No one was ready to call it the end of the day, to say farewell. Even as the tubs were cleared, we would uncover hidden sources of water, from the river and dispensers.
It was not just the final party, but the beginning of a more wonderful future, growing together.
♦ Albert: They ran up to their ‘weapons’ even before the end of music and started the ‘indiscriminate attack’.
Everyone shot, splashed and gathered with all methods they could have come up with till no more inch of dry skin were with them.
I did not want to miss any moment, so I stood beside the court with my camera. At that time seniors were not just satisfied with shooting water but starting to push their friends into the pool when they weren’t paying attention.
The sound of water, laughter, joy, and excitement resounded throughout the campus, telling the city about this happy time and playing the finale of the graduates.
To seek to best shooting point, I shuttled from ground to sky, from east to west, and the view for each floor was distinct. Some seniors were even attacking from floors above to create rain.
Inside the court, pervasive fulfillment of delight infected me a lot. Therefore, I took my camera and captured all valuable moments, continuing even with water flowing into the lens.
After all, memories are always more precious than devices. When we were surrounded by water and the air was filled with water vapor, the regret that the school did not have a swimming pool seemed to be forgiven.
02 Night Show
♦ Albert: Night show, for me, was strange, as I didn’t have this vocabulary in my life until the passage from the Prefect WeChat account. However, I immediately fell in love with it once after I had done one.
The night had come. Students gathered in the teaching building with light sticks waving in their hands, decorating the corridor of buildings a marvelous paint.
That scene and the dark blue sky could not be any better than being a memorable background of ‘light painting’, which was another tradition of SCIE.
Light sticks traveled in the air and left a wonderful path inside the camera with “SCIE-25”.
Though we weren’t all graduates, we still stood together to share this convention, bringing our best wishes to their bright future.
The screen was on, and the Night Show formally began. Photos of their history scrolled on the screen, radiating the unique colour of teenage, spreading the motivation of SCIErs.
At the back of the crowd, many of them were taking group selfies, recording their last days here, and writing down their traces, hoping that this joy would remain in their minds forever.
As the video ended, we threw our sticks into the sky together. They drew perfect curves and formed a special “rainbow rain”.
They fell to the ground, shining on the floor, like stars hanging in the sky, telling the graduates of the infinite prospects of the future.
♦ Eugene: There was a time when the speaker volumes, quite dramatically, dropped to almost no noise at all.
Eye contact amongst ourselves as we heard the faint voice from the speakers bringing the song to its climax, brought us all together, to call out the lyrics out the balcony.
The rainbow rain brought friends running together through every corner of the campus, paths they took each day, reminiscing of the stories made in the classrooms, hallways, bridges.
Just before the grand staircase, we sung together ‘See You Again’, bidding farewell to this campus filled with knowledge, friendship, and memories.
Voices filled the campus, as if we were announcing to the world: We are ready!
03 Superman Dance
♦ Albert: There are a variety of performances each year in the school, but the Superman Dance performance is paramount.
During the performance, the seniors put aside their image and showed off their talents, drawing a colorful period on the rim.
Some performed crosstalk, sharing interesting things in school, which made us laugh out loud; some performed situation dramas, reminiscing about the good old days, full of reverie; some played classic songs, making every note contain new surprises.
♦ Eugene: Superman Dance is more than just a performance. It’s a collection of displays of vibrance.
A2 students grasp onto this final opportunity to demonstrate their creativity, express their inner self. From first time solo singers, to bringing forward academic pressure which we all share.
All masks, all fears of disappointment, gone. Just happiness.
For the frequent performers, it was their final performance. A chance for them to highlight their unique high school life.
‘How could a senior performance possibly end without the iconic Superman Dance?’ As the performances were drawn to a close, all A2 students rushed onto the stage.
The iconic music once again filled the theatre. Superman Dance had been with SCIE since 2006. However unique each cohort may be, this dance does not change, connecting all SCIE alumni, bringing each cohort towards their awesome future.
By pure coincidence, the pouring rain brought the closing ceremony back to the theatre, where the Class of 2025 had their opening ceremony, on the 9th of August, 2021 — their first day in SCIE.
Mr. Mobsby delivered his final wishes, wishing us good luck on our exams. House competitions were also summarised, Metal once again being the champion. Then there were ECA awards. Step by step, the academic year was drawn to a close.
The SELT gave their final speeches, delivering best wishes and gratitudes to friends who they collaborated with over the year, thinking back to their friendship, mutual experiences, growth journeys.
Like every previous year, the school flag once again passed on from the graduating SELT to their successors, drawing an end to our high school stories, passing on fervent passion and heavy responsibility, wishing their successors the best in their journey.
A2 students then returned to the stage, ending the ceremony with a final Superman Dance. The 460 graduates then joined together for a photo, recording all joy and friendship of their high school story, ending our final lesson in SCIE.
- Article / Members of 'Eat What'
- Pictures / Dylan Yang, David Li, Nemo Yang, Admissions
