On September 11th, 2023, the class of ‘24 took their senior portraits in the SLT and outside the school, as remembrance of their last year before they are officially graduates. The portraits will also be included in the Stuart yearbook.
Seniors came in their best outfits and hair to school and looked dazzling. Unlike their underclassmen, seniors were not required to wear blazers or caps and gowns. They had the freedom to choose how to present themselves, something unique about Stuart Country Day School. Also unique to Stuart Country Day School is the background of the photo. Instead of only taking an indoor photo with a standard green screen, Stuart seniors were able to take their portraits in Stuart’s beautiful outdoors. Filled with natural light and woods and scenery, the background made a perfect backdrop for a special picture.
When asked about how outfits were chosen, Giselle Jean-Marie answered, “I looked online with my mom at some dresses that we thought were cute…”. She wanted to look nice because according to her, “maybe I’ll look at these photos a million years from now, and I know my mom will look at these photos for the rest of her life”. Harsimar Kaur added on, saying that for her look, she was, “going for business casual”. The two were also asked about what taking senior portraits meant to them, to which Jean-Marie states, “pictures are memories for the future… and I just think it’s a tradition to mark the end of high school. You can kind of see where you are in your last year of high school and compare that to all of your other school pictures”. Kaur adds on: “It is like a milestone almost because you’ve taken so many photos across the years… now we’ll have our own page… and it’ll be such a big photo in the yearbook, so for us, it’s really important that we take good pictures.”.
Stuart’s admissions liaison, Melinda La Nasa, has had several of her daughters graduate from Stuart. To her knowledge, senior portraits “have always been taken outdoors and in some cases, off premises, but still outdoors.”. When asked about what senior portrait day means to her and her family, as well as its symbolic importance, La Nasa replies, “A part of it is recognizing that in the portrait there is that confidence of a sacred heart education. It is not a standard cookie cutter portrait that you see in other schools. It does speak to the individuality of Stuart and of the Sacred Heart.”.
Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart is a school that instills intellectual curiosity, leadership, and confidence in their students. As seniors nearing the end of their high school journey, they can look back at their portraits and observe the growth that came through their Sacred Heart education. These portraits can be treasured by students for years to come, and will serve as evidence of all the Sacred Heart education has given them. And it will show that Stuart’s senior class is ready to make their mark on the world for the better.