Project S
Title
Project S
Creator
Julian Rodriguez
Date
04/23/2026
Text
Tomorrow is my first day of senior year. It’s crazy how the time flies and in the blink of an eye I’m already going to college next year. I can still remember grandpa Jorge telling me, “Don’t take this time for granted Pete. It will be the best years of your life and you will learn more than what they teach you in the classrooms..” He would always tell me all of the crazy stories of when he was a senior in high school. I mean at that point in time who knows there were probably still people that drove their own cars. He even mentioned how he used to play on his play station 5. The play station 40 is coming out soon. What’s crazy is that we are both still waiting for GTA6 to come out.
All of his stories involve him and his friends doing something crazy, but my favorite story from him is about his senior skip day. Me, Si, and Johan were all chilling in my room and grandpa Jorge started to tell us how the beach was so packed there were cops surrounding the entire beach. The craziest thing was when he was telling me about the helicopter flying above them recording it for the news. He said every single high school in the entire Miami-Dade and even Broward county was there. “Even kids that weren't seniors were there just to not miss out on one of the craziest days of the year,” says grandpa. After hearing grandpa's story we were dedicated to making our own senior skip day. I needed to live through one of these crazy experiences for myself. Plus, I bet every other senior also wanted to have a senior skip day as well. It is now time to plan out “Project S.” Project X has nothing on us.
It will be hard with how the beach conditions right now. Due to the crazy sea level rise. All that's left is the pier and even then, people are told to stay away due to how the tides could be extremely strong. I hope the tides weren’t as bad as they are now, but hopefully that day we get lucky and it happens to be low tide. Even though it can go from as sunny as 100 degrees to pouring rain with lightning within seconds. All we can do is pray that the day isn’t horrible. But there's no way that I will not have a chance to experience what grandpa Jorge was telling me.
I then told Si and Johan about an idea that honestly sounds crazy, but anything is possible. Especially when we're in Miami, the city of partying and larping(acting like you're rich trying to show off on social media). The hardest thing will be to actually get a lot of people to show up. Yes, people will skip school without even thinking about it, but with how the news has been about the beach recently many parents will not approve. Even then kids probably will not even believe that the idea is real.
We will start with the origin of senior skip day and figure out the day that Ihop has its free pancakes. That is the day we will begin to promote Project S. Johan went to a different school in his first two years of highschool, so we will be able to spread the news to different areas that me and Si don’t know as well as he does. Si is famous on Tiktok and could promote it on her live streams, stories, and even post about it too. My job was to create the posts and flyers and make them as interesting and lit as possible.
Okay so now that we have the promoting part down we need to figure out if my parents will even let me go. Si and Johan already mentioned it to their parents and they were completely cool about it. The next morning I asked my parents and received the fastest “NO” I think I’ve ever heard. Even after I showed them I have straight A’s and how I have not missed a single day of school the entire year. Honestly, I feel like they would’ve been more comfortable with me asking them to rob a bank. I already planned out how to get everyone there and if everyone shows up and I am not able to go then my life might be over. I wouldn’t be able to ever show my face again.
I went straight to grandpa Jorge’s house to let him know about the whole plan and how we already have it planned all out. He thought we were just kidding when we first spoke about it, but after hearing our plan he took us seriously. He thinks it’s an amazing plan because he feels as if senior skip day is something everyone should experience. He then said he would help me by talking to my parents and trying to convince them to let me go. Si and Johan were even clowning me because it was all originally my plan and I was the one having issues with going.
The next day I received possibly the best text message I have before saying, “Fine you can go, but make sure you are safe with all of the issues that have been going on.” I jumped out of my bed and walked into school with the biggest smile on my face. Having a math class at 7 a.m. and still being happy speaks for itself. During lunch there were already people coming up to me asking me if the senior skip day plan was real and not just a huge prank. We then went around talking to other seniors promoting the idea in person so that people would know its true. We even opened up our own Instagram account and began telling people to repost the account. Eventually we had over one thousand followers in less than 2 days.
The big day was coming up quicker than I thought. Grandpa Jorge even called me and was telling me how the word was spreading so much that even the police station was getting news about it. Him being a cop for Miami Beach, he was able to get inside information and all he said was to be careful with bringing anything I shouldn’t have at my age. I now had to see how we were going to sneak in alcohol to the beach. The cops are going to be checking coolers and bags to make sure nothing illegal is going on. Grandpa suggested an idea that he used to do back in his day and it was to get gatorade bottles and lemonade bottles and fill them up with liquor instead of the actual juice. We now had to start planning this all out from now.
Si was able to get her hands on a fake ID and get us the alcohol. How did she get it? Honestly, I rather not know or ask how because at the end of the day we have the goods. Johan was in charge of getting the gatorade which was easy, but cost way more than what we thought it would. We were now complete with the alcohol and all we needed to do was hide it from everyone until the day came. We decided to hide all of it in my room under my bed. Two days before Project S and my mom decided to do a full deep cleanse of my room and clean it all. I ended up convincing her that I would do it all due to how I was already grown and wanted to start taking more care of myself. Now I would never have said that because I love not having to clean my own room, but it’s better than getting whooped and not being able to go to the beach.
All we have left to do is empty all of the gatorade and lemonade to fill up all of the bottles with the liquor. Me, Johan, and Si met up after school because it was the only time we had when my parents weren’t home. It took up about two hours to fully have everything set up. Johan said he would be the one to pick us up because he had the biggest car and he had the cooler. Si just had to make sure to get some ice before showing up to my house and we were gucci. My parents finally got home and we just told them that we were doing homework together for a class we all have.
The morning came and we all had to be up by 6 a.m. to make it on time and not have to look for parking for 30 minutes. Johan showed up to my house first and we started to load the cooler slowly. Once Si finally showed up we were able to finish putting all of the drinks with the ice in the cooler. The car ride there was exciting with all the windows down, the sunrise in front of us, and our white girl music playing in the background. The closer we got the more nervous I was. There were too many things going on in my head. What if the police stop us and check our cooler? What if nobody shows up? What if the police lock down the beach and do not let anyone in? Too much was going on in my head, so we decided to take a little pre game shot. The shot helped me calm down a little until we got there. Once we finally found some parking and had to pay a ridiculous price because why not over charge things at the beach right. Well we finally were starting to walk to the beach to where we planned to set up our tent and make sure we secure a safe place on the beach.
I look up past the hill and do not see a single person in sight. I thought I just went through all of this for no reason. The only person I saw was some random old guy that was going for what it looks like his daily morning walk. I was so disappointed and the day was looking like getting drunk and letting the sun take over type of day. Next thing I know, all I hear is music starting to get closer and closer. People were starting to show up. They set up their tent next to us and at least we had some people to be with so it was not a complete turn down.
About an hour later I was already feeling tipsy and the sun was beaming. Next thing I know there are more than 100 people around us. Slowly people were starting to show up. Eventually, there were easily over 500 people at the beach all with their own coolers, footballs, volleyballs, spike ball set ups, tents, speakers, and towels all over the place. I managed to host the last and final senior skip day successfully. I knew I made it when cops began to show up. More and more people kept hearing about what was going on and it just kept getting more full. People started hosting boxing tournaments and even playing football with no pads. It was crazy, but that is what I was aiming for. Thank god Si and Johan know the people they know and got the word out a lot as well because if not it would’ve just been us three and the guy taking his morning walk.
The cherry on top was when the helicopter showed up. I faced grandpa Jorge and he was surprised that the plan worked and everyone showed up. My parents even began to text me to show me that we were all over the news. The news titled it “The Beach Takeover,” but they then found the instagram page and it blew up even more. I somehow made it on the news for hosting the craziest beach takeover Miami has ever seen. The head title was “Project S.” Project X has nothing on me and my friends.
Hopefully in the future there will be some type of space similar available for future seniors. Maybe another kid just like me will host his own and make it even bigger than mine. The real goal was to have this experience not only for myself, but for the generation that was born into this messed up version of Miami. Well after this insane takeover and all of the shots I took I think it’s time to go and take a nap, we have school tomorrow morning.
All of his stories involve him and his friends doing something crazy, but my favorite story from him is about his senior skip day. Me, Si, and Johan were all chilling in my room and grandpa Jorge started to tell us how the beach was so packed there were cops surrounding the entire beach. The craziest thing was when he was telling me about the helicopter flying above them recording it for the news. He said every single high school in the entire Miami-Dade and even Broward county was there. “Even kids that weren't seniors were there just to not miss out on one of the craziest days of the year,” says grandpa. After hearing grandpa's story we were dedicated to making our own senior skip day. I needed to live through one of these crazy experiences for myself. Plus, I bet every other senior also wanted to have a senior skip day as well. It is now time to plan out “Project S.” Project X has nothing on us.
It will be hard with how the beach conditions right now. Due to the crazy sea level rise. All that's left is the pier and even then, people are told to stay away due to how the tides could be extremely strong. I hope the tides weren’t as bad as they are now, but hopefully that day we get lucky and it happens to be low tide. Even though it can go from as sunny as 100 degrees to pouring rain with lightning within seconds. All we can do is pray that the day isn’t horrible. But there's no way that I will not have a chance to experience what grandpa Jorge was telling me.
I then told Si and Johan about an idea that honestly sounds crazy, but anything is possible. Especially when we're in Miami, the city of partying and larping(acting like you're rich trying to show off on social media). The hardest thing will be to actually get a lot of people to show up. Yes, people will skip school without even thinking about it, but with how the news has been about the beach recently many parents will not approve. Even then kids probably will not even believe that the idea is real.
We will start with the origin of senior skip day and figure out the day that Ihop has its free pancakes. That is the day we will begin to promote Project S. Johan went to a different school in his first two years of highschool, so we will be able to spread the news to different areas that me and Si don’t know as well as he does. Si is famous on Tiktok and could promote it on her live streams, stories, and even post about it too. My job was to create the posts and flyers and make them as interesting and lit as possible.
Okay so now that we have the promoting part down we need to figure out if my parents will even let me go. Si and Johan already mentioned it to their parents and they were completely cool about it. The next morning I asked my parents and received the fastest “NO” I think I’ve ever heard. Even after I showed them I have straight A’s and how I have not missed a single day of school the entire year. Honestly, I feel like they would’ve been more comfortable with me asking them to rob a bank. I already planned out how to get everyone there and if everyone shows up and I am not able to go then my life might be over. I wouldn’t be able to ever show my face again.
I went straight to grandpa Jorge’s house to let him know about the whole plan and how we already have it planned all out. He thought we were just kidding when we first spoke about it, but after hearing our plan he took us seriously. He thinks it’s an amazing plan because he feels as if senior skip day is something everyone should experience. He then said he would help me by talking to my parents and trying to convince them to let me go. Si and Johan were even clowning me because it was all originally my plan and I was the one having issues with going.
The next day I received possibly the best text message I have before saying, “Fine you can go, but make sure you are safe with all of the issues that have been going on.” I jumped out of my bed and walked into school with the biggest smile on my face. Having a math class at 7 a.m. and still being happy speaks for itself. During lunch there were already people coming up to me asking me if the senior skip day plan was real and not just a huge prank. We then went around talking to other seniors promoting the idea in person so that people would know its true. We even opened up our own Instagram account and began telling people to repost the account. Eventually we had over one thousand followers in less than 2 days.
The big day was coming up quicker than I thought. Grandpa Jorge even called me and was telling me how the word was spreading so much that even the police station was getting news about it. Him being a cop for Miami Beach, he was able to get inside information and all he said was to be careful with bringing anything I shouldn’t have at my age. I now had to see how we were going to sneak in alcohol to the beach. The cops are going to be checking coolers and bags to make sure nothing illegal is going on. Grandpa suggested an idea that he used to do back in his day and it was to get gatorade bottles and lemonade bottles and fill them up with liquor instead of the actual juice. We now had to start planning this all out from now.
Si was able to get her hands on a fake ID and get us the alcohol. How did she get it? Honestly, I rather not know or ask how because at the end of the day we have the goods. Johan was in charge of getting the gatorade which was easy, but cost way more than what we thought it would. We were now complete with the alcohol and all we needed to do was hide it from everyone until the day came. We decided to hide all of it in my room under my bed. Two days before Project S and my mom decided to do a full deep cleanse of my room and clean it all. I ended up convincing her that I would do it all due to how I was already grown and wanted to start taking more care of myself. Now I would never have said that because I love not having to clean my own room, but it’s better than getting whooped and not being able to go to the beach.
All we have left to do is empty all of the gatorade and lemonade to fill up all of the bottles with the liquor. Me, Johan, and Si met up after school because it was the only time we had when my parents weren’t home. It took up about two hours to fully have everything set up. Johan said he would be the one to pick us up because he had the biggest car and he had the cooler. Si just had to make sure to get some ice before showing up to my house and we were gucci. My parents finally got home and we just told them that we were doing homework together for a class we all have.
The morning came and we all had to be up by 6 a.m. to make it on time and not have to look for parking for 30 minutes. Johan showed up to my house first and we started to load the cooler slowly. Once Si finally showed up we were able to finish putting all of the drinks with the ice in the cooler. The car ride there was exciting with all the windows down, the sunrise in front of us, and our white girl music playing in the background. The closer we got the more nervous I was. There were too many things going on in my head. What if the police stop us and check our cooler? What if nobody shows up? What if the police lock down the beach and do not let anyone in? Too much was going on in my head, so we decided to take a little pre game shot. The shot helped me calm down a little until we got there. Once we finally found some parking and had to pay a ridiculous price because why not over charge things at the beach right. Well we finally were starting to walk to the beach to where we planned to set up our tent and make sure we secure a safe place on the beach.
I look up past the hill and do not see a single person in sight. I thought I just went through all of this for no reason. The only person I saw was some random old guy that was going for what it looks like his daily morning walk. I was so disappointed and the day was looking like getting drunk and letting the sun take over type of day. Next thing I know, all I hear is music starting to get closer and closer. People were starting to show up. They set up their tent next to us and at least we had some people to be with so it was not a complete turn down.
About an hour later I was already feeling tipsy and the sun was beaming. Next thing I know there are more than 100 people around us. Slowly people were starting to show up. Eventually, there were easily over 500 people at the beach all with their own coolers, footballs, volleyballs, spike ball set ups, tents, speakers, and towels all over the place. I managed to host the last and final senior skip day successfully. I knew I made it when cops began to show up. More and more people kept hearing about what was going on and it just kept getting more full. People started hosting boxing tournaments and even playing football with no pads. It was crazy, but that is what I was aiming for. Thank god Si and Johan know the people they know and got the word out a lot as well because if not it would’ve just been us three and the guy taking his morning walk.
The cherry on top was when the helicopter showed up. I faced grandpa Jorge and he was surprised that the plan worked and everyone showed up. My parents even began to text me to show me that we were all over the news. The news titled it “The Beach Takeover,” but they then found the instagram page and it blew up even more. I somehow made it on the news for hosting the craziest beach takeover Miami has ever seen. The head title was “Project S.” Project X has nothing on me and my friends.
Hopefully in the future there will be some type of space similar available for future seniors. Maybe another kid just like me will host his own and make it even bigger than mine. The real goal was to have this experience not only for myself, but for the generation that was born into this messed up version of Miami. Well after this insane takeover and all of the shots I took I think it’s time to go and take a nap, we have school tomorrow morning.
Collection
Citation
Julian Rodriguez, “Project S,” Everything Speaks To Me , accessed September 18, 2026, https://everythingspeakstome.com/items/show/452.