We attended the graduations of two grandchildren this spring and they couldn’t have been more different.
Jamie’s graduation was held in a hot high school gymnasium. Banners showing past athletic victories hung on the wall. The band of more than a hundred underclassmen in full uniform sat on one end of the basketball court and chairs for the graduates and a platform for the board of education, principals, and superintendents were arranged at the other end. Parents, grandparents, and other relatives sat on hard bleacher seats.
As the band played a march, the graduates filed in, the boys in green gowns with white collars, paired with the girls in yellow gowns with white collars. The gowns matched the school colors on the walls. We in the bleachers noted that there were more girls graduating than boys.
The valedictorian spoke about endings and beginnings. The salutatorian offered appreciation for the support that teachers, parents, and friends had given him through the years. The student with the third highest grades used the Gettysburg Address to give form to his remarks.
The principal proudly read the names of all the students who had received scholarship aid to go on to college. Many of these graduates were attending the University of Toledo and Owens Technical College nearby. About a fourth of the class had received some kind of aid so this reading seemed to take a long time. Some fathers of the other three-fourths grew restless and longed for a smoke outside. A few succumbed to the temptation.
Then the students marched up to receive their diplomas. The valedictorian changed the position of his tassel from one side to the other and all the other graduates followed suit.
We were able to leave the gym at eight-thirty.
Eril’s graduation was held in a large theater. The undergraduates of the Noon Workshop Jas Band played incidental music as the audience waited and the traditional Pomp and Circumstance March as the graduates marched down the aisles to the stage where their woman principal and the board of education were seated on one side of the stage. Teachers sat in the audience in the front rows just behind the band. Grandparents, parents, and their friends sat on soft theater seats on the main floor. Celebratory, noisy, undergraduate friends of the students sat in the balcony.
The graduating seniors had spent considerable thought on their costume for this most important night. About a dozen seniors wore caps and gowns in protest to the school policy of allowing graduates to wear whatever clothes they choose. Some girls wore prom dresses. Other girls wore pants or skirts, and blouses. Some boys wore shorts with suspenders. Others wore new suits. One boy looked rather goulish, his face painted black with large white painted eyes under a black hat.
The student body of this high school is grouped in forums with all four classes as part of each forum. The students are initially assigned to a forum but they can change as they feel the need. Each forum has a teacher who is their advisor for the four years. These teachers came up from the front rows to present the diplomas to their students, some with heartfelt hugs, some with formal handshakes depending on the openness of the student and the teacher.
Each student had their turn at the mike to say a few words. Many thanked their teachers, parents, and grandparents. they expressed appreciation for their friends in the balcony who responded with cheers. They hugged their classmates and supported the tearful ones with wavering voices. Some read short poems. The last graduates realizing the lateness of the hour kept their remarks brief. One boy thanked his mother for supporting him through many unpleasant surprises.
Seven individual graduates and groups of graduates presented musical selections which ranged from piano solo, a Brahms rhapsody, a soprano solo, Handel, and “We’ll Be Together Again” accompanied by guitar. A group of girls performed a dance number.
It was ten-thirty when we left the theater.
Jamie graduated in a class of 234 students from Clay High School in Oregon, Ohio. Eril graduated in a class of 106 from Community High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
I made potato salad for both graduation parties. In the coming years, we have seven more high school graduations to attend.
-- Mary