As an all-girls school, Loretto Academy is full of traditions meant to make the sisterhood stronger.
The Big Sister/Little Sister Picnic is the most anticipated tradition during Hey Week.
This year’s picnic was on August 30, 2023 at the beginning of the school year.
The picnic starts at the beginning of the day when freshmen and seniors are transported to Biggs Park in Fort Bliss.
Part of the tradition is that the freshmen ‘‘littles’’ wear a pink shirt and the seniors ‘‘biggies’’ a yellow shirt, the distinguished colors of each class.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Aveitia.
The current seniors didn’t get to experience the picnic as freshmen but as Hannah Aveitia, a senior at Loretto Academy said, ‘‘I tried to make the things that I would’ve liked to experience… We got to live our experience through them.’’
The purpose of this beautiful activity is not to bond only with your ‘‘little/biggie’’ but to get to know the whole class and do fun activities as a team.
Freshman, Julianna Fierro said, ‘‘I think all the seniors are pretty nice… they are very welcoming and they were just fun to talk to.’’
This year’s picnic the students got to enjoy water games, dance battles, paint each other’s faces, and have lunch, and in all of them the main priority was to work as a team.
Freshman, Lauren Aveitia said, ‘‘Favorite part was when everyone was dancing… it was so funny.’’
After this picnic seniors and freshmen get to build a stronger relationship as the senior Faith Spade said ‘‘My relationship before the experience with my little was a bit awkward as we didn’t know each other but throughout the day we became closer.’’
Seniors choose the freshman they wanted as their little, some of them knew each other already and others randomly picked.
Having a big sister that gives you advice based on their own personal experiences, especially in the same school, can help alleviate the nerves from being in a completely new environment, such as high school.
Watching a younger sister grow is fulfilling and seniors at Loretto Academy get to experience it through their little.
The memorable thing about this relationship, whether it previously existed or not, is to have a sister to count on.
Cheers to those chosen sisterhoods over the years!
