Graduation

We are finally wearing the billowing gowns and caps of the graduate, the scholar. We clutch our diplomas tightly, some thinking about the amazing party there would be after the service, others thinking about how they totally wasted the time they had. But all were thinking about who was going to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, and who’s education scholarships just ran out with this very graduation. We are all standing up as the voice that has been the head of our school life, says with much practiced enthusiasm, “Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to the Class of 2010!”

All of the mothers are crying, sharing a huge tissue box among them. The fathers stand in clumps looking completely lost and confused. Suddenly, the voice says, “Parents, please make your way to the side of the stage. At the conclusion of the service, your graduate may exit the stage. Congratulations from myself and the staff. We had a terrific year.”

Then it was over. The parents swarmed onto the stage in no orderly manner, while the new graduates were swarming off the stage and the staff was trying to discreetly sneak away from all the crying people. Don’t fool yourself, unless a teacher was also a graduate’s parent, they don’t want to see a bunch of people, especially not their former students, go to pieces.

My friends and I said we would see each other later, and found our respective parents. My mom was on me before I could open my arms to hug her.

My friends and I think about all the times we had together. The senior pranks were the best the school has ever seen. Our school is divided, so the lower/middle school is in a different location than the high school. This meant we could have PG-13 pranks without worrying. The first was during an all school assembly.

There was an old fashioned overhead projector sitting on the very stage we had just exited. There were some girls in the first row who were eating oranges. A guy jumped on stage and shouted, “Hey you! Give me an orange!” She tossed him an orange which he proceeded to peel. He arranged the peels on the projector and sat down with a smug smile. When the teacher turned on the projector, the peels showed up as black, but the kid had peeled the orange so that there was a long peel from all the way around the center. Then he set the two sides of peel on ether side of the top of the long peel. Guess what it looked like? Yeah... It was ironic because it was a sex ed assembly.