Wootton High School seniors are filling hallways with Hello Kitty, Spider-Man and Strawberry Shortcake backpacks as part of a tradition that marks their final year.

The Class of 2027 opened the school year by trading standard bags for brightly colored cartoon packs, a trend that has grown at Thomas S. Wootton High School over the past couple of years, Wootton's student newspaper Common Sense reported on Sept. 13. Seniors pick prints tied to shows they watched as kids, including PJ Masks, Cars and other childhood staples.

Peace Tiam, a senior who serves as Student Government Association president, made a video documenting classmates' backpack choices. "I wanted to document this tradition because every senior class for the past couple of years has done this," Tiam told Common Sense, adding that she wanted to celebrate a ritual that brings the class closer together.

Senior Gabriel Gorbachev picked a Cars-themed pack because the show was his childhood favorite. He said the backpack is "a nostalgic way to remember how far I've come from being a kid." Classmate Dylan Nuestadt said the group bought their kid backpacks together at the end of summer as a way to celebrate the final year.

The cartoon bags are one piece of a broader senior-year calendar at Wootton that includes senior sunrise, senior jeans, painted parking spots and senior shirts. On the first day of school, seniors also gathered in the parking lot to pose with decorated cars.

The Class of 2027 may be the last to graduate from the Rockville campus. The Montgomery County Board of Education voted 7-1 on March 26 to move Wootton's students and staff to the upcoming Crown High School building in Gaithersburg, according to Bethesda Magazine.

The move is set to take effect for the 2027–2028 school year, MyMCMedia reported. MCPS has called the change a relocation to "a state-of-the-art facility," citing safety and infrastructure concerns at the aging Rockville campus.

That plan faces a legal challenge. The Community and Education Policy Alliance Inc., known as CEPA, has evidentiary hearings scheduled for Dec. 8, 9 and 10 before a Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings judge, Bethesda Magazine reported.

No ruling has been issued.

This fall, Wootton's hallways still belong to the seniors and their Spider-Man backpacks. The CEPA hearings in December will be the next public milestone in the relocation fight.