After the first week of the 2025-26 school year, students’ and staff’s opinions vary depending on whether they are seniors, juniors, or teachers at Plano Senior High School. When asked the same four questions about their week, the answers show insight into what it’s really like in the first week as a Plano Senior Wildcat student or teacher in this new school year.

Looking forward to the future

Starting with seniors, upperclassmen are often focused on graduating when it comes to future goals. Or so you would think. When asked what 17-year-old Jude Lewallen, a Plano native, looked forward to this year, the answer was sure and sharp: “I’m looking forward to being done with school, you know, like graduating.”

Another senior, Cate Robertson, had a different answer: “I’m looking forward to making all the memories I still have time for. I hear senior year goes by really fast. … I don’t want to waste a second of it.”

When asking a junior, the answer was a little more hopeful than the bittersweet responses from seniors. Sixteen-year-old junior Sloane Phillips said, “I’m looking forward to the football games and those days during lunch where the food trucks come.”

Highlights of the week

The next question: favorite part of the week. Lewallen stated, “My favorite part of the week is that it’s almost over. Getting to know new people was fun and all, but the weekend after such a heavy week is so rewarding.”

Junior Brianna Jones said, “This week was definitely a little crazy. But my favorite part of the week was having classes with one of my friends and even making new ones. Also, this campus is so different from Vines, where I used to go. The trees, the pond, and the weather are so refreshing to me after being trapped in a room for almost an hour.”

Lowlights of the week

When Jones was asked about her “lowlights” of the week, she said, “The worst part of this week was the first day, when it poured down at the end of the school day.”

Robertson pointed to the new Texas state law against phones, saying, “It really sucks. It feels almost like a prison.” Many students across campus have also complained about the new law.

Expect the expected

When asked about expectations of the week, the phone ban was a common topic among students and staff. Others, like Jones, expected the typical nature of Plano Senior High: chaos.

“I expected more … chaos? I think that’s the word for it. Like the traffic in the halls and stuff,” Jones said.

As a huge school, with the graduating class being more than half of the population, Plano is a handful at times for all students and staff. This idea was also shared by 17-year-old Robertson, who said, “It’s exactly how it was last year. The crowds, all the people. Just this time I’m a senior, so it’s a little weird for me.”

Both students and teachers have to adjust to the new phone ban.

“I didn’t expect this new ban to be so strict. But here we are,” said Mr. McConaughy, the new senior AVID teacher.

Lewallen agreed: “I expected it to be bad since it’s a law and all. But they are really cracking down on it. Other than that, I expected it to be a pretty easy week because I’m a senior.”

Navigating the school was also a challenge for some. Phillips said, “I expected to get lost every day. Even if I got the hang of it, the school is still so confusing.”

A new beginning

With high expectations for the future, Plano Seniors students and staff are ready to begin the 2025-26  school year!