A post pandemic senior panorama

Class of 2022 takes the first senior panoramic after the pandemic

Gabriella Bomjardim, Photographer|November 1, 2021

Yearbook+Advisor+Gabriel+Garcia+prepares+to+take+the+senior+panoramic+atop+an+aerial+lift.+The+students+bellow+were+organized+into+the+number+22+to+represent+their+graduating+class

Melina Ramirez

Yearbook Advisor Gabriel Garcia prepares to take the senior panoramic atop an aerial lift. The students bellow were organized into the number 22 to represent their graduating class

October 13th, 2021 was an unusual school day for students at Bonita Vista High (BVH), seeing as each grade level was split up to do different activities. For seniors, it was senior class photo day, sophomores and juniors were taking the Practice Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) and freshmen were in group activities. 

All students were instructed to go to their first period for attendance, afterwards, seniors made their way to the gym for a quick assembly. The assembly included speeches from the School Resource Officer on behalf of the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) Stephanie Campello, Assistant Principal of Student Activities Christopher Alvarez, and Site Curriculum Specialist Christina Ada. Finally, the seniors were directed to the front lawn to take a senior class picture.

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On the front lawn, the seniors were lined up according to pink threads laid out on the grass in the shape of the number 22, representing their graduating class. The senior panoramic is taken every year in October.

The class of 2020 had difficulties taking their senior photo due to the pandemic, and the class of 2021 did not get to take their senior class photo at all. This year, the organizers encountered different struggles for the class of 2022.

“The other challenge that we have with panoramic photos is the time of day in which it is taken and the weather that time of day produces. The photo is usually at around nine in the morning and the sun happens to be to the right over the south of the big tree in front of the school, which produces a shadow that casts over half of the number every year. So really, the biggest obstacle during this photo process is [the] light or lack thereof,” Yearbook Advisor Gabriel Garcia said. 

The senior panoramic photo has always been a requirement for seniors in order to be able to fill out the graduating number. As such, the yearbook and the administrators set it up on the school-wide testing day so that all seniors would have to attend. 

Garcia has been taking the senior panoramic photo for the last 4 years with the help of Alvarez, however, he expressed how this year’s graduating class was unlike those of the past.  

“It was a little different, I love the class of 2022 but I don’t think they know the tradition so I did not see much of the spelling out of names, saying with the t-shirts [baron gear], not a lot of groups were forming like football wearing all their jerseys, I did not see the band in the background with their instruments [and] stuff like that,” Alvarez said. 

Alvarez and Garcia have been overseeing the previous panoramic photos over the past couple of years. Many seniors demonstrated positive and pleased reactions to the outcome of the photo.

“I am glad that my senior graduating class was included, [and that we got to do] the senior panoramic photo. It was fun,” senior Sophia Ponce said. “I really enjoyed it, I think that they should continue that for the other classes to come.”