Nov. 3 marked the first senior skip day of the 2014-15 school year. This tradition resulted in the absence of 150 seniors and dropped FHN’s attendance rate to 87 percent.

“[Attendance] varies a lot,” AP Calculus BC and AP Statistics teacher Steve Willott said. “Calc classes have had really good attendance, and in the stats classes, it’s been a little bit over 50 percent. Different types of students in some cases as far as how studious or how much attention they give to the classes is a lot of it.”

Despite this lack of attendance, many teachers with classes composed predominantly of seniors continued with their lessons as planned.

“I did exactly what I originally planned and it’s what I always do when this day comes around,” AP Language and Composition and creative writing teacher Jani Wilkens said. “It really just created more homework for them.”

Traditionally, senior skip day has occurred on the day after Halloween. However,  because a Professional Development day for teachers occurred on this day, many seniors designated Nov. 3 as the skip day this year. For the seniors who chose to attend school on this day, tests, homework load and lack of friends who decided to skip were key factors in making the decision to skip.

“Because I had two important tests on Tuesday and teachers were reviewing on Monday, I figured, why skip when we had a three-day weekend,” senior Brenda Alvarado said. “With a lot of AP classes, it would take like a week to get caught up.”

The tradition of senior skip days has evolved over time. When it first started out, many seniors planned loosely structured group activities and spent the day together. However, according to Wilkens many seniors now spend the day sleeping in and staying home.

“Some high school traditions are worthwhile, but what’s become of senior skip day to me is silly,” Wilkens said.