By Colin Boyle

Nina Memenga, Div. 667, spent weeks going over the pros and cons of the two schools she was looking at: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of San Diego.

She had printed all the papers she needed to send to University of San Diego, where she was planning to go to. Yet on the day before Decision Day at Lane, there was a shocking package waiting for her in the mail when she came home from school that day.

“To my surprise, it was a letter offering me nearly a full ride [to UIUC],” said Meminga. “So a day before decision day… I changed my college decision because the idea of not being in debt forever was pretty appealing.”

Memenga is now going to UIUC in the fall, and her story stands as an example of the exciting yet stressful situations brought about by Decision Day.

The counseling department counted 466 seniors who filled the recently accessible Memorial Garden on a cloudy Friday at the end of April, decked out in their college gear.  For many, this was a moment that, apart from graduation, was the end goal of attending a college preparatory high school.  The seniors were there to celebrate their decision of enrolling in a college or university.

Last year was the premiere Decision Day at Lane, taking place in Gym 1, where the seniors came in during different periods with their division throughout the day.  Students typed in where they were going for college in a computer and then got to put a pushpin where their school is on a map of the United States, according to Tim Stebbins, Class of 2015.

“Overall, it was meant to be like a big celebratory event, but a lot of people skipped. It was kind of turned down,” Stebbins said.  Teachers and the counseling department were present to help supervise and direct the students.

This year, Decision Day was set up in the Memorial Garden, which was previously inaccessible due to construction.  Similar to Oktoberfest, food was available for students and Stage Krew DJed the event.  There were raffles going on in each class period where students won items deemed useful in college, such as shower caddies or desk fans.

Students got time to talk and celebrate their decisions while enjoying free pizza and cupcakes.

“It’s like a nice day of recognition that I wanted,” said Fhebi Ballagan, Div. 652, who is going to Syracuse University in the fall as a computer science major.

New this year was “senior checkout,” where seniors were required to complete their post secondary requirements.  According to Mrs. Hanly’s presentation given in the beginning of March, the requirements included applying to three to five colleges, submitting FAFSA, applying to three private scholarships, completing a transcript card, and adding their final decision on Naviance.

These new requirements were to be met on Senior Checkout Day, which was a week before Decision   Day.

“This is the first year that we had the senior checkout day, so a lot of students were stressed about the scholarships [and] about having that final decision made by Decision Day,” Ms. Atkocaitis said.  She mentioned that the need for students to have their decision made before May 1 caused stress, on top of meeting all of the requirements.

Last year, National Decision Day conveniently fell on the Friday before AP exams began, whereas this year the counseling department had decided to have the celebration a few days early.

Atkocaitis said that if Decision Day happens closer to or after May 1 in the future without interfering with AP exams, it would be better and less stressful for the students.

Oscar Garcia, Div. 659, is going to the Illinois Institute of Technology this upcoming fall to study biochemistry.

“[Decision Day] was unorthodox, but it’s a nice event for us that we work hard and stress all year for,” Garcia said.

Overall the event seemed to go as planned, with students socializing, eating, and taking photos.

Brandon McBee, Div. 667, is going to Illinois State University, and was “ happy to see everyone made it, [that] everybody is going to college… I like to see everyone happy.”

The only suggestion he had for changing Decision Day was to have the music turned up more.