Sneaky Seniors

This week I have the honor and privilege of going on the Senior “Sneak” with the class of 2014. This is an opportunity given to me by being a sponsor for the class. The Senior Sneak is a long-standing tradition at Dalat that many of our new families might not be aware of, so I thought I would take a little bit of time to explain some of the history, traditions, and reasons for Sneak.

The purpose of the Senior Sneak is for the seniors to spend time away from Penang in a bonding experience. As a school we believe that members of the senior class are the leaders on our campus, and to do this well it helps to be united as a group. The trip itself is called a “sneak” because in the past the date of the trip and its location were a secret. In more recent years, it has become harder and harder for the trip to remain a secret, and so this year for the first time the trip was written in the school calendar. The location is still supposed to be a secret, but I am hearing that this already has slipped out and many already know.

The trip itself is a part of the junior and senior class experience at Dalat. The location is decided on by the students and is influenced by and paid for from the amount of money the students earned and raised during the junior year. Over the years the seniors of Dalat have been all over Southeast Asia on some amazing trips — Phuket, Singapore, Vietnam, China, Langkawi, Perhentian, Pangkor, Indonesia.

The school believes this trip is important enough that two school days are given for the class to take the trip. If the class decides together to spend one of the days of the trip on a community service project, the school gives them a third day off from school. The community service component has seen our students working in an orphanage, teaching English in a remote village school, doing construction work, digging ditches for a village, etc.

Senior Sneak is a trip that will have countless benefits for the students and memories that will last a lifetime. When the seniors arrive back, they will be telling many stories of their adventures and all that they got to do together on their Senior Sneak.

Happy Merdeka!