Graduated HS ten years ago this month.

We tossed around a giant beach ball :) When the commencement ceremony was aired on public access TV, that part had been edited out :(

We had a tradition where, if you'd won any awards, the awards would be announced with your name... "Winner, Math Department Award, John Doe" or whatever. For the three or four people who won the most awards (valedictorian and salutatorian always won a bunch) the graduating class would count them: "Winner, Math Department Award..." "ONE!" "Science Department Award..." "TWO!" "Women's Club Exceptional Scholar Award..." "THREE!" etc. I didn't agree with the practice, but it was still fun counting out awards for a couple of my fellow graduates and hearing them count out mine ;)

High school reunion coming up this fall... :)

My graduation was 8 years ago, and it was an experience I NEVER want to repeat.

When our yearbooks came out the week before graduation, I found out my name had be omitted from the list of National Merit students. At my school we had 29ish of them and I was the only one left off. My mother got upset, and called the school to complain. To rectify the error the school decided to have me stand up, alone, in the middle of my ceremony, and announce that I had been left off the National Merit Students page in the yearbook. I was MORTIFIED. I had no idea they were going to do that.

Then a little later in the ceremony, as we were leaving our seats to form the line to cross the stage, the zippper on my gown broke. I was frantically trying to get it closed before I had to actually walk onto the stage. At the last moment, I yanked a bobby pin from my cap, put it through the broken zipper and managed to pull it up.

After that experience, I decided not to walk in my college graduation, but got talked into it just before the deadline to order caps and gowns. I'm glad I went to that one. It was much smoother and not at all embarrassing.

I was just at a cousin's hs grad party yesterday. In fact, it inspired me to wear my hs class ring today.

From my actual ceremony I remember:

1. My friend Dan, the salutitorian (sp?) giving his speech. He was using a rubix cube to illustrate something & started out with it all jumbled up. Throughout his whole speech he was twisting & turning it. At the end, he had it completely solved! (The trick was that he bought a new one & left it under the podium & switched them close to the end of the speech-but you couldn't tell he did it. ;) ) I have a pic of us in our caps & gowns & he's got the rubix cube.

2. Everyone defiantly throwing up their caps.

3. Bubbles.

Oddly, I don't really remember playing with the band, although I did, even though I was a total band geek in hs.

My high school graduation (May of 1999) sort of sucked because the sound system kept going out, but I remember singing with my choir for the last time. That's what I remember best. I can't even tell you what the speakers said, or who the valedictorians were (heck, we had so many, I couldn't keep them straight anyway).

I was reminded this week by an old friend that on the 10th we had been out for 5 years (class of '98). There is only one thing that I can remember that stood out during my ceremony.
Each year, it was tradition for each of the grads to have a marble and as they shake the principal or vice principal's hands, hand them the marble. They have no where to put it so it goes in their pockets and by the end their pockets are huge! Well, the year I graduated, we decided to change up the tradition and hand them condoms. Everyone was handing them the the principal and the male vice principal, but one guy had guts. He walked across, grabbed his diploma, turned to the audience and held up the condom, and then gave it to the female vice principal. Everyone just lost it cheering, it was so great!