Over 600 students absent Thursday, February 8th due to an epidemic that swept the Delaware Valley: a Super Bowl victory.

When the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, the people of Philadelphia flooded the streets to celebrate a victory 58 years in the making.  Generations of Eagles fans rejoiced, people young and old were moved to tears because of this historic win.

For some, it was more than just a football. It was a family hope, a legacy of defeat that finally ended in triumph.

What better way to celebrate years of misery and failure than the parade down Broad Street on February 8.   Millions were in attendance for the once in a lifetime event. School was cancelled across the region, due to the impact the parade would have on student and faculty attendance.  

The Hammonton School District; however, made the decision to keep their doors open and not follow other schools plans of action.  There was a total of 601 kids absent from HHS on Parade day.  

Coach Santiago, who teaches gym described how phys ed classes were affected.

“Students got dressed for gym but they weren’t able to engage in normal activities because classes were so small,” she said. “Not much was done all day, if they substituted school for another day we could have had off.”

For some students that came to school, they had not much to do on the agenda but to watch the parade live.

Senior English teacher Stacy Peretti explained she would not be able to do a lesson.

“Since the attendance was so low, a lesson would have never worked,” she explained. “There was less than half the class in each period.

For some, coming to school seemed like a normal everyday thing to do…until they arrived. Senior John Friars was one of those who came to realization that it was clearly a waste of a day.

“Nobody was here,” he explained, “so I figured I would just leave early because we weren’t even doing anything in class.”

There are many different aspects to this day: students who attended the parade, skipped school for the day, left school early, and the ones who actually attended school.

While the school did not issue an official statement, many believed closing the district would be a waste of an educational day.  Some sources estimate that more people attended the parade than when the Pope visited. At least a few hundred were likely students from Hammonton High