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How big a deal is high school commencement?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by MTM, May 30, 2013.

  1. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    It does mark a passage of time, indeed. I think it's a bigger deal in rural communities than in large cities, since small towns are closer knit, IMO.

    My suburban high school didn't have a lighted football field and had a a small gym, so our ceremony was at the downtown convention center in San Jose. Felt odd walking through the streets downtown to mom's car in cap and gown afterward. College graduation was at Spartan Stadium.

    When my niece graduated 8th grade, I remember she posted on Facebook "I hope the Sharks lose so we can have the ceremony at HP Pavilion." No amount of explaining from me that having it at her school would be cool because it meant the Sharks would be playing for the Stanley Cup would change her mind. Of course, the Sharks did their bit for family harmony by choking .... again.

    One year we hired a reporter right out of college and she spent a lot of her first week covering graduations. At the end of the week, she told me, " I graduated on Saturday and I've covered three graduations since."
     
  2. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    I really hated covering high school graduations. And yet there were some things I've covered, like high school band competitions that almost brought a tear to my eye when I'd find out some of these kids, who played with the top HS orchestras in the state would be putting down their violins and trumpets and planned to join the military after graduating. Nothing against joining the military, just kind of a jarring transition from playing Vivaldi expertly one month to toting a rifle the next.
     
  3. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    I've been to my siblings' HS graduations -- and there have been a few -- and will go/have gone to their college graduations. To me, it's not about the event itself; it's almost more about celebrating the person, in some way.

    But I have made clear that since I'm flying across an ocean to attend these graduations (and do other things as well), THAT'S the gift. There is no bonus beyond that. :)
     
  4. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    third and final shockey heir has his h.s. graduation in three weeks. a very big deal in our relatively small l.i. town 'cause we've known so many of these kids and their familes for so very long -- many for almost 20 years. as we've seen through our other two shockey heirs this does indeed end our relationships with so many of them. our kids brought our families together from pre-skool. but every summer after they graduate we see fewer and fewer of them. it's the natural transition -- the h.s. friends grow further and further apart, replaced by their new friends away at college, most of whom never become more than names to us. and guess what? most of those relationships flame out after college graduation, when those friends are eplaced by your work friends. it's the circle of life...
     
  5. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    I think what I meant to say earlier was it's less about the accomplishment of graduating high school, which for most is not that much of an accomplishment, and more about celebrating whatever new direction that person's life will take. No matter where a kid ends up, the end of high school is a seminal moment, and I think it's worth noting.
     
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