Senior Parade + Senior Sunrise

Monday, August 24, 2026 - First Day of School Apex Nature Park (Amphitheater Entrance) → AFHS Stadium

This event has passed.

How It Went

A senior's SUV with GRAD and 27 painted on the windows, pulling past the Apex Friendship campus welcome sign

The Class of 2027 gathered at Apex Nature Park before dawn, decorated their cars, and drove to school together for the first day of senior year, with Apex Police holding the intersections along the route.

The theme was Aloha Senior Year, and the class committed to it. Grass skirts on tailgates, inflatable flamingos strapped to roofs, palm trees, leis, and window paint on nearly every car in the line. A red SUV decorated with an inflatable flamingo, a palm tree and a grass skirt along the roofline A dark SUV trimmed with leis and paper flowers moving through the intersection A yellow and grey Mini Cooper decorated for the parade ALOHA Seniors 2027 written across a rear window, with leis strung along the roofline, before dawn

After the parade, seniors headed to the stadium for Senior Sunrise - breakfast, music, and the start of the first day. The Class of 2027 gathered across the AFHS field and track at sunrise, with the treeline and stadium lights behind them

The weather was beautiful and everyone had a great time. It is hard to ask for more from a first day of school. A senior at Sunrise wearing a child-sized Minecraft backpack, seen from behind

Senior year does come with its own traditions.

Thank You to the Apex Police Department

An Apex Police officer directing traffic at the intersection as the parade rolls through, patrol cars with lights running

This parade does not happen without the Apex Police Department. The event runs on an Apex PD permit, and officers worked the route so that a long line of teenage drivers could get to school safely in the dark.

Thank you to Lt. Best, and to every officer who worked that morning. Two Apex Police School Resource Officers in uniform outside the Apex Friendship High School entrance

Our School Resource Officers, Officer Perez and Officer Arata.

Thank you to our School Resource Officers, Officer Perez and Officer Arata. Officer Perez set the lineup and traffic rules for the park and asked for the parent volunteers who made the staging work. Both of them turn up for senior events well beyond what the job asks.

If you see them at school, say thank you.

Thank You to the Businesses That Fed Us

Breakfast for a class this size is not a small thing.

McDonald's on Lake Pine donated food for Senior Sunrise - the one outright food donation of the weekend. Please give them your business.

Peace, Love and Little Donuts of Apex made the donuts, and opened early on a Monday to do it. The committee paid for the donuts; getting up before dawn on the first day of school for somebody else's kids was the favor.

Fratelli's Delicatessen made the 600 sandwiches for the Senior Social the Friday before, and the leftovers went to the AFHS staff and the Apex Police Department.

All three deserve your business. Full details, addresses and links are on the Donations page.

Thank You to the Parents and Donors

This morning ran on donated food, donated supplies, and parents who got up in the dark.

At the park, before the parade. Thank you to the parents who were at Apex Nature Park at 6:00 AM to line up cars, keep the two stacks straight and get roughly 700 seniors moving on time. Officer Perez asked for as many parents as possible at the lineup, and families answered.

At the stadium, for Senior Sunrise. Thank you to the parents who set up the tables and drinks before the seniors arrived, served breakfast to the whole class as they came off the parade, and stayed afterward to clean it all up. That crew was working before dawn and still there after the first bell.

And to every family who donated. Water, breakfast items, drinks, decorations and supplies came in from across the class over the preceding weeks.

It took the whole committee and a long list of volunteers. Every one of them made the morning work. Shelley Cox and Kathleen Cole at Apex Nature Park before dawn, waiting for the parade lineup to start

Shelley Cox and Kathleen Cole at the lineup, Apex Nature Park, 6:23 AM.

Photos

A decorated senior car heading toward school with the sunrise behind the treeline

More event photos are shared on the AFHS PTSA senior page and on the PTSA's Instagram, @afhsptsa - the official homes for senior photos.

For the Record: How the Morning Ran

Kept here for next year's committee and for families who want to know how it worked.

Where: Apex Nature Park, Amphitheater / Dog Park entrance (2600 Evans Rd)
Lineup: 6:00 AM. Apex PD closed the park to entering and exiting traffic about ten minutes before the start
Roll-out: 6:30 AM, escorted by Apex PD to the AFHS stadium
Lineup pattern: cars filled the first stack completely before the second stack formed, first-stack drivers keeping right to leave room alongside
Everyone stayed seated while vehicles were moving, including anyone riding in the bed of a pickup
Participants: about 700 seniors expected

AFHS Senior Parade lineup map - Apex Nature Park, 2600 Evans Rd

What Is Next

Senior class meetings at Pat Chats - August 25 to 27
Senior Pictures with Cady Studios - next session October 20
Yard signs - this round of sales closes September 15
The full year is on the Senior Calendar

Senior Sunset is the next big committee event, in the spring. Needs will be posted on the Donations page closer to the date.

Still Want to Help?

There is a full year of events left, and the committee runs on parent volunteers and donations.

Questions? [email protected], or Christina Winter at [email protected] | collegehound.com/community/afhs/seniors

Last updated: August 25, 2026