On November 12, Paint Branch held its annual Senior Unity Day, which took place this year at the Urban Air Adventure Park in Laurel, Maryland.
The day began shortly after 3rd period started with an announcement for students who signed up for the trip to go down to the cafeteria. After a few minutes, everyone was let in after verification. Soon after, the excited seniors were instructed to board buses based on the alphabetical order of their last names, and after some issues regarding where certain people were, everyone left just slightly behind schedule.
After an approximately 10-minute bus ride, people excitedly entered the building only to have to wait in a long line to sign a waiver to play in the park, immediately causing frustration. After this, everyone received socks to wear as shoes are not permitted inside. Fortunately, the waiting and requirements were worth it as the adventure park had a lot to offer with a go-kart track, obstacle courses, laser tag, and many trampolines, including some with basketballs and dodgeballs.
However, probably the most notable attraction of them all was the Sky Rider, which was a zip line-style ride that rode the ceiling, encircling the entire park. In order to ride it, students had to wait in line for a while until the person operating it hooked them up to and tightened a harness. After climbing to the top of a tall tower, they then walked off and enjoyed the ride. It was a great experience, as it was a fast ride with big drops and turns that provided a view of the entire park. Additionally, some people thought it was scary because you could hear various riders scream as they rode along, and once they got off, told their friends who were next in line how startled they were by a certain part of the track.
One of the people who rode the zip line, Kamar Coley, thought it was amazing and noted that he was not afraid of the ride. He claimed, “it only looks scary from down here [the ground], but once you’re on there, the only thing that is ‘quote on quote scary’ is the way it jerks.”
Unfortunately, after about 3 hours, the fun eventually had to end. At the end of the visit to UrbanAir, Ms. Smith, who was in charge of the event, announced that it was time to go home, but not before Dr. Mugerwa took a senior class photo. After students returned to school, they were told to either leave or wait in the cafeteria until the end of the school day.
Ms. Smith, reflecting on how the event went, said it was a slow start as she wasn’t sure if enough people were going to sign up for Senior Unity Day, which would have led to cancellation. According to her records, on November 3rd, only nine people were signed up, but in the end, 130 came, which fortunately saved the event. As for how to prevent a threat like that from popping up in the future, she thinks class officers need to do a better job at advertising and encouraging people to sign up for senior events. That includes telling them what places are all about, as she thought a lot of people didn’t know what UrbanAir was. In the end, she felt like the day went well because it looked like everybody had a good time, which is the reason why Senior Unity Day exists: for seniors to have some more fun before graduation at the end of the year.
