The Luxury of Seniority

          Being a V Former comes with lots of freedom and new privileges. After being set free from stricter underformer rules, V Formers have less structure with later check-in, a V Form-only dining hall, and no required study hall. Younger students look forward to their senior year, giving current V Formers the pressure of being a good role model. 

          As a V Former, the role “comes with added trust and therefore added responsibility,” Anabel Guerreiro explains. Through the lens of a Stephens House prefect, she tries “to be available and support the girls however and whenever [she] can…[and] also try to be engaged in the community.” Although she is not in senior housing, she still stays connected with her class by spending time in the Abbott Dining Room. 

          Nichole Jin ’24 agrees that the “main thing about being a senior that is different from other years is the newfound freedom.” She thinks that seniors rightfully deserve these privileges because “they’ve spent the last three years at the school building good habits into their daily routine.” These habits can be seen in any V Former—even with no designated time to do homework, every V Former still seems to complete their work, and have leftover time for hanging out with friends. Even when juggling more tasks to complete, time management skills have been ingrained in them from their past years at Lawrenceville. 

          Thinking about her time as an underformer, Guerreiro realizes that she always looked up to the V Formers as role models, who set the tone for school culture. She tries to have an enthusiastic mentality while balancing healthy criticisms of the school’s systems. In particular, people turn to seniors for “perspective on how Lawrenceville has changed over the past few years.” The Class of 2024 specifically started their high school experience remotely, then gradually shifted to on-campus classes and activities. Being a senior in the Crescent has given her a different point of view to think about the needs of the House. Guerreiro has “experienced the entirety of the post-Covid Crescent and think[s] a lot about equity and interactions across [the] Crescent and Circle.” 

          As a V Former, it is the final year as a Lawrenceville student. While feelings of future ‘goodbyes’ sink in, Jin’s mentality has changed to become more appreciative of her experience at Lawrenceville. She has become free from caring about small things that “used to matter more with [her], such as who was friends with who,” because she wants to get to know everyone in her grade before she leaves. Jin shares that she thinks this mindset is the case for everyone in her grade—she feels that her grade is a lot closer this year than in the past. She enjoys that in her growth through the years, she only focuses on the important things, rather than every little setback bothering her. 

          In the eyes of V Formers Gurreiro and Jin, the V Former life can be seen as more relaxed, but is only a reward for the hard work and due diligence they have spent in their previous years!