Each year without fail, the girls of the senior class come together to honor the long standing tradition of decorating overalls, and the BSM hallways are filled with an abundance of denim, glitter, and fabric paint.

Senior overalls have been a tradition as far as any student can remember. They’re one of the many traditions upheld proudly by each class. But where did it all begin? “We believe it started in 2010,” said senior class advisor Mary Fran O’Keefe, an avid BSM sports fan and resident guru of BSM traditions. “We’re not exactly sure why they decided to do it, but Ms. Anderson said that at some point overalls were not part of the dress code, so that might have changed around the same time when they decided to do it,” said O’Keefe.

It’s hard to think that overalls could be against dress code, especially because many people now choose to wear them loosely. But with the change of times, style has changed as well. Ms. Andersen reveals the history behind senior overalls at BSM. “This would go back to about the late 80’s early 90’s. The time that the overalls started to creep into the fashion scene for high school kids, the style to wear them was a tube top and unbuttoned, with one of the straps hanging down. So it wasn’t even so much the overalls, it was that it was only cool to wear them a certain way. So that’s why overalls were initially banned,” dean Ms. Mary Andersen said.

The tradition didn’t emerge right away once the ban on overalls had been lifted, but in time they became the practice beloved by all. “I’m guessing some group of senior girls just went ‘Let’s do this!’ and then people decided to keep doing it and it becomes this tradition,” Andersen said.

But a tradition doesn’t uphold itself, there’s a lot of time and money put into each pair of overalls. “It costs a lot more than you’d think,” senior Brooke Ferrer said. “My overalls cost $15 and I spent about $35 on materials, so it was probably about $50 overall.” The cost of materials for the overalls paired with the hours of work to make them would seem to make their creation a chore, but this hard work doesn’t seem to faze Ferrer and her fellow seniors. “It’s really fun actually. I had a good time, and I really enjoyed doing it, especially when you’re making them with friends,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer isn’t alone—senior Taylor Lowenberg agrees. Lowenberg thinks the tradition brings the grade together. “When people decorate they usually get in big groups with their friends, and they’ll help each other come up with ideas. It’s just fun to get together and design these cool overalls,” Lowenberg said.

This spirit is what gives the overall tradition it’s staying power. “I think it’s fun, because it’s only the senior class that gets to do it and it’s your last year of high school so you get to be different. And you get to do it with your friends, so it’s an enjoyable time,” Lowenberg said.

Although we can’t be sure how this tradition began, we can be sure of one thing: the popularity of the overalls is undeniable. “The senior overalls are awesome; I love seeing the Red Knight spirit. I am always impressed by the level of creativity,” principal Dr. Skinner said.