Being a senior seems like it is going to be easy until you actually enter senior year. The workload, activities and involvement in your community take up a lot of time, energy and effort. Being this close to graduation is tough, and me and many of my peers value free periods as they give us a break from the stress of our regular classes. Finding a place to hang out during your free period is not hard, but having a space meant for your grade only is very important. That is why FIS has its very own senior lounge: a place where people in that grade level can work, study and hang out during their free periods. 

The FIS senior lounge first opened in 1974 and was a student project. Seniors and juniors took it upon themselves to create a space just for them to relax and study during their free periods. The first lounge was decorated and painted by the students themselves as they had full creative control. The tradition of redecorating and repainting the lounge has stuck with FIS and it’s senior classes to this day. It has been a very celebrated perk for seniors and a good way to prepare for presentations and study during your free periods. 

The most recent renovation of the lounge included a sofa and bean bags for students to sit on and relax. It also includes a projector and speakers for students, in case they want to practice their presentations or other oral assignments. Seniors can hook up their computer to the projector, and there is also a TV in the lounge that shows the media teams videos about events happening in the school. 

The tradition of remodeling the lounge is still alive to this day. The senior lounge is currently closed to the class of 2021 until further notice due to several reasons. Students previously did a messy job of painting the walls, so this year’s newly formed senior lounge committee is looking to fix that. Due to the new Covid-19 guidelines, it is also required that all furniture has a cleanable surface to lessen the spread of germs during a time like this. The board is currently trying to obtain faux leather couches to ensure that it is comfortable for students to sit on, as well as easy to clean after every use. After these regulations are met and donations are collected, the team can start taking suggestions from other students about what they would like in the lounge this year. This year’s team of students has already come up with a proposal on how to fix the lounge. When in operation, the lounge will be open to the whole grade. 

Former students from the graduating class of 2020 were asked about their experiences with the lounge and whether or not they found it helpful to spend their free periods there. Here are some responses from a former senior:

Q:  How often did you use the senior lounge? 

A:  Not that much. It is a really cool space where it is not too noisy but during my free periods I would spend time with teachers trying to catch up on work. 

Q:   Did you find the senior lounge to be useful? 

A: At times, yes. I went there with my friends most of the time and I found it to be a very neat space to work on my assignments. However, the lounge is quite empty and I found myself on my phone a lot of the time to entertain myself. 

Q:  What is your favorite feature of the lounge?

A:  The placement of it, definitely. It’s situated under the stairs near the drama area so it is only a bit loud during morning break. It is sort of hidden with the way it’s situated, so having a lounge all to yourself as a senior is a really cool perk. 

Q:  What do you think could be improved? 

A: Definitely have more entertainment so that students don’t feel as bored there, because a lot of them use their free periods to relax from the huge amount of work we were asked to do as seniors. 

Q:  Any words of advice for upcoming seniors on how to utilize it in the best way? 

A:  Let other seniors use it. It is usually crowded by one single group. I got in on occasion of them being absent. Just be mindful that other people would like to use it as well. 

The senior lounge committee was formed this year in order to ensure that the seniors can still have one of the most celebrated perks while still remaining safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. I interviewed a member of the senior lounge committee about their collective plans for the lounge this year and why they formed in the first place: 

Q:  What made you join the team? 

A: Me and a lot of the other members wanted to be part of a process of creating a space to recognize the seniors and all the hard work they put into the school. We think that it is important to design a space that allows everyone to relax and chill during their free time. 

Q:   What are your visions for the senior lounge? 

A: Our goal is to develop a clean and cozy environment with a bit more space. Our plan is to paint half of the walls a deep grey/blue and the other half white. On the white walls we might hang up the senior mural we made earlier this year to add some color to the lounge. Another idea is to provide students with paint markers and allow whoever uses the lounge to graffiti it themselves. Furniture wise it is difficult to get cleanable materials. For example, bean bags must be cleanable. We are also planning to install half of the lounge for people to play video games and listen to music and the other half of the lounge to study.

Q:   Have you started working on it? 

A:  We are done with the painting of the walls in the room and need to order furniture and decorate. It took us quite a while to paint it and we also had to consider the new rules regarding cleanable furniture due to Covid-19.

Q:   When do you think you will be finished? 

A:  We are planning to be done by the beginning of November. I know it has taken quite a long time for us to finish the painting process, but we can confidently say that the furniture purchase and decorating process will not take as long. 

The senior lounge is a very useful perk for seniors, especially considering all of the exams and assignments they have to handle at the same time. The lounge itself has been getting quite a large amount of attention from the Class of 2021, as all are excited to see the remodel. The lounge itself has had great reception and feedback from the previous graduates who have used it. The team of students working on the new lounge design is also excited to share their vision with the rest of the class so they can utilize it in a more efficient way, while also being able to decorate it themselves. This sense of a lot of students in a grade level being involved in the personalization of something as old as the lounge shows how creative the students at this school are. Considering all of the stress and pressure the seniors have been under with the pandemic and how it has affected exams and assessments, a place like the lounge would be greatly appreciated and valued.