Carrollwood Day School’s culture is rich in traditions. From annual teacher-student volleyball matches, Holi celebrations, and hallway decorating during spirit week to Personal Project Fair, the International Festival, and Patriot Buddies. A large amount of traditions at CDS are dedicated to the current senior class. There are annual activities that honor the time that seniors have spent at the school, and are a means to send them off into the world while ending their chapter of high school. A few of the many senior traditions include walking through the gym at the beginning of the year, and then again at the end of the year, with the senior’s first grade buddy, announcing each individual college decision at assembly in front of the entire CDS Upper School, painting/decorating school uniforms in the senior’s college colors, a senior honoring ceremony, and the graduation commencement ceremony.

Sarah M., a CDS ‘Lifer’ who has spent over 10 years at Carrollwood, noted that the traditions, “represented the culmination of my high school experience. Each unique ceremony represented different phases of my time at Carrollwood day school. From spending time with the Patriot buddies to the skirt painting, I remembered looking forward to the activities when I was in younger grades.”

As a student goes through high school, the goal is to prepare them for life away from home. CDS has seniors dispersing all across the country, and even the world. The school has prepared seniors for the next steps in life that they will take, starting with college. According to Sarah M., Carrollwood Day School, “has prepared me very well for the next subsequent phases of my life. Through the academic rigor, communication and organization skills gained, it has allowed me to better use my self-advocacy and work ethic.”

As seniors begin to change and grow from the students they were at CDS they will always be able to return to their high school days. At CDS, they made memories that will truly last a lifetime and met people that became family. The atmosphere of Carrollwood Day School makes the question “What will you miss most about CDS after you are in college?” harder to answer than the questions on High Level IB tests that seniors take on two years of Diploma Program material that they learned during their junior and senior years of high school. However, Sarah M. said that, while there is not one sole thing she will miss, she, “will miss my friends, teachers, and coaches who are family… the people at Carrollwood Day School who shaped me into the person I am today.”

As parting advice from many seniors, but communicated by Hallie S., “time at CDS is precious and it should never be taken for granted or forgotten.” The seniors will always have the lessons they learned during their time at CDS, no matter how long they attended the school. Sarah M. shared that, “the biggest lesson I learned from my time at CDS is to always try new things and don’t restrict yourself inside a box. CDS has numerous opportunities and wonderful people to support you in all of your endeavors.”

The graduation commencement ceremony that took place on Friday May 20, 2022 for the CDS graduation class of 2022 looked over the past years that the class experienced. The diverse class of future designers, artists, lawyers, engineers, doctors, and many more went through many monumental events, like a global pandemic amid their sophomore, junior ,and senior years, together. The graduation ceremony was a bittersweet way to close out their time at Carrollwood Day School, and spend time together one last time before college in the coming fall of 2022.