Instead of relying on Accolade’s 21-member editorial board to address a specific topic about the aftermath of COVID-19 five years later, we decided to incorporate every staff member to discuss the issue of annual activities that never returned to campus.

The vote count in favor or against will be listed for each lost tradition.

Ex-head coach for girls soccer and social science teacher Jeff Gordon came up with “tradition never graduates” as a motto for his players following the 2004 season.

“I was watching something about Notre Dame football, and they mentioned the phrase, and it perfectly captured what we were building at SHHS,” Gordon recently wrote to The Accolade in explaining the origin story behind his slogan. “I immediately branded this phrase on our shirts, website, etc.

“Our CIF championships and finals appearances soon followed. Seven CIF championship games in 14 years.”

In his more than 30 years of guiding his program before his retirement as head coach, the CIF Hall of Fame inductee from the 2023-2024 school year had established consistent routines for his student-athletes.

Each practice, for example, would start with a quote of the day to help players understand what the goals are for that moment.

“We wanted our players to know that even though great players were leaving and graduating every year, our tradition would remain, and the next group would keep the winning tradition. … It gave hope to each new team at the beginning of the season when they felt the loss of impactful seniors who had graduated,” Gordon wrote.

He finished with this: “Tradition never graduates gave us the confidence and the DNA to continue, commit and climb new mountains of success.”

Such sentiments can be applied to all Lancers. Seniors leave and graduate every year, but Sunny Hills tradition should remain, too. And the next group — incoming freshmen, rising sophomores through rising juniors — would keep the Lancer traditions alive.

However, some annual Sunny Hills activities never resurfaced after COVID-19 health and safety protocols were lifted in March of 2022. When our adviser polled the staff and asked if anyone cares about past traditions that never returned after March 2020, no one bothered to raise a hand in the air. 

But upon further discussion into the specific events and venues that are no longer present on the Hills, some started seeing their value and agreed that they should be revived. 

Here are some examples that Li reviewed with us:

• MR. SUNNY HILLS (18 of the 45 students on staff want to see this return)

Started in March of 1995, this event featured senior boys tapped to compete against each other in a pageant-style atmosphere. The Associated Student Body [ASB] members would come to the lucky senior’s classroom and endow him with a paper crown and a Sunny Hills gold-colored balloon as a way to officially induct him into the event. 

One main reason for its creation was it provided an alternative to homecoming since the latter event only crowns a queen from a group of princesses. With Mr. Sunny Hills, the winner gets the ultimate “king” treatment.

Those who favored its return agreed with the notion of equity — celebrating a senior boy and his accomplishments since homecoming is limited to female titles.

• HOLIDAY QUAD DECORATIONS (18 of the 45 students on staff want to see this return)

When our adviser was hired to teach here in the 2001-2002 school year, the holiday quad class decorating competition had already been in place. Students from each grade level would spend the fall semester raising money and gathering to figure out how to construct the most appealing holiday-themed exhibit for the rest of the campus to see when they arrived to school — usually the Monday of finals week.

Because of poor participation, the ASB changed it into just its own members coming early morning to school to deck out the halls and various parts of the quad. Those on staff who favored this tradition to return agreed that on the eve of students’ final exams, it would benefit them to enjoy some holiday cheer. Although we have Santa visiting and Elf on the Shelf, those don’t involve students, so let’s deck the halls.

Our adviser brought up additional items, such as whether Lancer Awards night should return to the Fullerton Auditorium next to Fullerton Union High School or if students seeking to be elected for an ASB cabinet or class position should be required to do on-campus campaigning (right now, it’s optional), but a majority agreed we have moved on from those activities. 

Yes, tradition never graduates, but some rites should.

The Accolade Editorial Board is made up of the top editors and section editors on the 2024-2025 staff with the guidance of adviser Tommy Li. If you have a question about the board’s decision or an issue for the board to discuss and write about, please send an email to [email protected].