High School traditions
 

We had Senior parking spots...and you did not want to get caught parking there as an underclassmen...the dean threatened to send the football team out to physically move underclassmen's cars who parked in Sr. spots.

We also had a senior lot.

One of our traditions was on the first day of school the ENTIRE school had an assembly first thing in the morning. I went to a small, private school so for us this was everyone from Pre-K to 12th grade plus all faculty members. Our headmaster would give a boring speech about the new school year. At the end the seniors were each introduced in terms of how long they had been attending the school. Then we lined up along the walkway in the same order and shook every person's hand from 11th grade on down, including faculty again.

We also would have a winter carnival the week before winter break. The entiree week was like spirit week. Each grade would have a color and the seniors would ALWAYS be the blue team. This was because on color day you could wear blue jeans (a BIG thing when you have a dress code)

Other high school traditions:

1. when you were a senior being able to NOT be in school when you didn't have a class.

2. Off campus priviledges for juniors and seniors

3. The junior college tour

4. The senior trip (LOTS and LOTS of fun, we went to NYC for mine) :D ;) :p :o :eek: :cool:

Oh, what fun we had at North Miami Senior High (North Miami, Florida) back 20 years ago...

We had a Senior Patio that sat unused and neglected for the longest time until one of the school clubs cleaned it up as a service project; unfortunately the Class of 1983 didn't get to use it very much.

The center section of the auditorium (as you faced the stage) was reserved for seniors during pep rallies; juniors sat on the right section, sophomores (aka 'Baby Pioneers') on the left. During my senior year the administration instituted controlled seating by keeping classroom groups together (previously it was a free-for-all).

Back when we were sophomores, we could have cared less about school spirit and tradition, and being forced to attend a pep rally wasn't much better. At least until the Slimnastics class took the stage and did their routine... nothing better than getting teenage male hormones in an uproar! One time, during the routine, one of my classmates stood up on the auditorium seat and yelled at the top of his lungs, "SIT ON MY FACE!!!" The sophomore class erupted into wild cheering after that. Needless to say, he was taken down and sent to the office; reportedly he was suspended three days for his antics. Interestingly enough, he graduated two years later in the Top Fifty honor graduates.

Seniors had the south end of the east parking lot reserved for them.

I knew the varsity and JV cheerleaders underwent some kind of initiation when they were selected. What it was, I don't know to this day... maybe I could ask some of the former cheerleaders at my 20-year reunion? ;)

Always a party going on at the gym parking lot after football games; as soon as the football team changed out of their uniforms and equipment (or when the police presence got a little too hot) we hightailed it over to 85th Street Beach Park; where yours truly gained experience in getting totally sh*tfaced. And when the cops ran us off 85th Street, we'd head north to Haulover Cut.

Hey... and don't forget the famous 'senior skip day'!

Having been in the BAND (well, Colorguard but virtually the same thing) we had a little freshman initiation ceremony that was actually assisted by our instructors. After marching band finals, we always went to this Italian restaurant on the way home for pizza, etc. and we would gather all the freshman together and make them do various things. For instance, in the past this event has been a Karaoke Contest, "Who's Line is it Anyway?," a simple talent show, "Jeopardy", "Survivor/The Bachelor/Who Wants to Marry the Drum Major?" etc. Also- there is always a wedding of 2 freshmen (usually the boy and girl who win the contest part of it, unless there is an extenuating circumstance like an upperclassman's younger sibling or etc.)

For Colorguard we had this game we played on the freshmen at midnight during our annual 24-hour rehearsal. It was kind of like charades, w/ a chair in the center of the "stage." All the freshmen were herded outside and given various "personas" to act out for the audience (upperclassmen) to guess. The catch- they have to remain on the chair. The other catch- they don't know this, but everyone in the "audience" already knows what is being acted out and is guessing everything BUT the CORRECT answer. Also- the chair is supposed to be visualized as a toilet, so what the person is acting out is, in the mind of the audience, them using the bathroom. (Some particularly funny actions: giving birth, watching fireworks, waiting for a bus that never comes, lifting heavy objects, popcorn popping, etc.)

In the Theater Company we always made the freshmen clean the dressing room counters and bathrooms after closing night...with all the make-up and hairspray caked on it...ew...it was gross!

The upperclassmen also made up this legend of "Ignatius" (supposedly a ghost that haunts the cat-walk) but never really come out and say it. They just talk about "him" all the time and when a freshman asks "who?" they say "you know, Ignatius." and then laugh when the freshman pretends to know who "Ignatius" is. Also- it was always a game to see which senior would be the first to get the little freshman thespians to say that "Shakepearean Play-that-starts-with-an-M-and-rhymes-with-'Seth,'" in front of the director whom would in turn, FREAK OUT because of the supposed curse...

fun times :)

Freshman Trash Day/Senior Holiday Party: The last day of school before winter break was ALWAYS freshman trash day. Apparently in the past it had been worse, where seniors would tape the frosh into trash cans and roll them down the stairs, or things like that. The administration has sinced cracked down on it, and by my freshman year it consisted mainly of a few select freshmen getting duct taped to lockers and some of the rest getting "FROSH" written on their foreheads in permanent marker.

To crack down on trash day several years ago, the administration instituted an official "senior skip day" on what was traditionally freshman trash day. Somewhere along the line, this morphed into a day where seniors would sneak into the school very early in the morning the day of freshman trash day, decorate the main hallway outside of the cafeteria (Christmas trees being the primary source of decorations), and then spend half the morning partying. (Of course, many seniors came to school drunk that day.) The decorations grew more and more elaborate every year, and my freshman year it was rumored that the seniors had brought in over 150 Christmas trees and propped them up all over school. :eek: After that year, the admin put a ban on the Christmas trees for two reasons: (1) they were a fire code violation, and (2) rumor had it that many of them were obtained illegally, including a group of senior boys who had gone out and sawed down evergreens off of golf courses! Of course, after that there was a push to make up for the lack of Christmas trees -- my junior year, the hall was filled with millions of foam packing peanuts. Another year, the seniors collected a pair of underwear from every senior and strung them up on clotheslines across the hallway.

Senior, Junior and Sophomore Walls: My school had these walls that were about three feet high that ran through the main hallway. Everybody hung out around them before and after school, sat at them at lunch, etc. One was designated for each grade (except the freshmen, who weren't special enough to have their own) and usually the most popular people from each grade hung out there. It wasn't strictly enforced or anything, though (if you were a sophomore and your boyfriend was a junior, you could still hang out at the junior wall).

Unofficial Senior Skip day: Yes, even though our principal handed us a free skip day in December, we went to school on the official skip day and waited til May to actually skip out of school. We were screwed up. :p Upperclassmen also didn't have to go to school on the first day . . . that was for freshmen only, so they could have a chance to get used to the new school without all of us scary big kids there.

I remembered some more. :)

If you were involved in the theater department, after the spring play, all the seniors got to paint their name and graduating year on the wall backstage somewhere. There are names written backstage that go back to the 1950s . . . it's really cool to see all the people who have done theater there, and I hope to come back someday when I'm old and see all the new names.

We had Homecoming in the fall, complete with Spirit Week, powderpuff football, a parade with floats, Homecoming Court, a pep rally, the football game and a dance. Around Valentine's Day, we had a similar thing (a little bit more low-key) called TWIRP, which stood for The Woman Is Required to Pay. (This is apparently a Wisconsin thing, since I know a bunch of other kids who went to high school in Wisconsin and also had a Sadie Hawkins-esque dance called TWIRP, but nobody in any other state that did.) TWIRP had Spirit Week, a pep rally, a dance and TWIRP Court. I was on TWIRP Court as a senior, but I don't like to tell people that because "TWIRP" sounds so silly.

Looking back, I think one could probably consider our traditions "hazing".

As freshmen, we were paired up with a junior and she would be our big sis. I went to an all girls' Catholic school, btw. A week in September was Freshman Initiation week, and each day would have a theme, in accordance for the theme of the week. The freshmen were showered with gifts and other goodies because it's such a special time...we wanted each girl to feel welcome because they were the newbies at Sacred Hearts Academy. It all culminated in Friday's Pep Rally, where each freshman was dressed up and paraded around the gym. When I was a freshman, the theme was "Back to the Future", and I was a cave babe! I dressed my little as one of the Brady Bunch kids...my little clique in HS got together and did the same thing.

We also had the Senior Pavilion, and it was OFF LIMITS to underclassmen. There were only two pay phones on campus, and one was in the Senior Pavilion. The other pay phone was usually busy and someone was usually on it, but if you got caught in the Pavilion, you woulda had ISHT to pay.

My class...the class of 1997, started a new tradition...SENIOR BREAKFAST. We cut homeroom and first period to have breakfast across the street at Columbia Inn. We did it during Senior Finals week, but now I hear that the administration doesn't know when the senior class will cut. Upon returning from breakfast, we disrupt the entire school by marching back singing the alma mater and other fight songs.

We got detention for it...90 girls picking up trash afterschool, and they threatened to not graduate us, but now they can't do anything about it because it's become tradition! It feels cool to start something like that.

Re: High School traditions
 

We also had a senior bench. At my school the senior class always gets out a couple weeks before the underclassmen. As our senior prank our class stole the senior bench and put it in the auditorium of the sports arena where we had graduation. When the juniors walked into school on the following day (with no seniors) they were very shocked to see that they had no senior bench to claim. They were soooo pissed!! It was awesome! :)

my list is short, cause i hated senior year and i hated my school even more.

we had the unofficial senior skip day. if you had the guts, you didnt show up for class.

we have the senior daughter/ mother tea

we had the homecoming parade complete with silly games between the football players, cheerleaders, and coaches

we used to have spirit week. one day was clash day, the next was future occupation day, cowboy day, formal day, and school colors day. however my dumb school didnt like the dress code of the students that week, so they cut it down to formal day and school color day.....some spirit :rolleyes:

we also used to have big sis/little sis. (senior girl/junior girl) there were exchanges of gifts and semi formal brunch. but it discontinued my senior year.

i am so glad to be out of high school!!!!!!!!!!

I went to a Boarding School so I have some interesting ones!
1) When you are in Grade 12, the grade 12 class decorates the cafeteria and makes breakfast for the school in a "theme". We were pretty angry at the Administration at the time so we did a "Breakfast from Hell".

2)Just in my house, the grade 11 girls would produce a fashion show where the first half was the grade 12 girls modeling their Grad dresses. The second half, we had them wear a dorky outfit. It was so fun.

3) We were located near the ocean, and we offered rowing (crew). If your rowing crew won a race, then you threw the coxswain into the water afterwards! (The coxswain is the little person who sits in the boat who barks encouragement to you while you are rowing your little heart out! They don't actually row themselves). Actually, throwing your coxswain into the water is a pretty standard thing for winners of rowing races, but I thought I'd put it up there anyway!! :)

we used to have that the unofficial senior skip day was whatever your class year was (i.e. if your graduation year was 1982, everyone skipped on the 82nd day of school). The admin started really cracking down on it and by the time I was a senior it was gone.

we also used to sing (to the tune of pomp & circumstance) "the reindeer song" which would be disastrously politically incorrect today. I don't remember all the words, but I do remember that isht was @#$ %ed up.

We of course had Senior Skip day, and actually, the year I graduated, I think that we had 2. A bunch of us met for breakfast, then pretty much the whole class got drunk later that day one way or another.

We had Homecoming, and each day of homecoming week was a competition. First of all, we had 4 long halls, so each class was assigned a hall to decorate in their chosen theme. We've done Candyland, little mermaid, Wizard of Oz, Super Mario Brothers.. the list goes on and on. The Senior hall always won becuase they had 4 years of experience and it was always the best. It was so funny to laugh at the frosh hall because they always had no ida what they were doing. We also had each day of the week as a dress up day. It always varied, except that Friday was always spirit day. We had color day one, and gave the Freshman Pink as their color. We had a Giant rock on the school grounds, right next to the road, and people painted it all year long. During spirit week, each class painted it for a competition each day. My year, we had a war with the juniors, and after their paining wa done, they brought in a dump truck full of dirt and buried the rock!! they spent the whole night digging it out, and even were egged by the Juniors during the night, but we still won the rock competition. As it turned out, the Juniors were banned from homecoming week their senior year for unsprotsmanlike conduct!!
Our last event was a homecoming skit on Friday which every class did. Once again, the Frosh always sucked. One of the guys in our clas was a professional DJ so all throuhg HS we had professional light and sound, and we always convinced out principal to be in our skit. He drove a Harley and our senior year he got a bunch of his friends and they all drove into our gym as part of our skit, it was great!

Ahh....

1. 3 Senior Skip Days :) We were all lazy, hehe
2. Band: We had a system of having "big's and littles" except the newbies were called "Freshman" until their "Upper" graduated. :) I have a large family tree consisting of 1 Upper, 3 freshmen, 2 grandfreshmen, and 2 great grandfreshmen!! I personally spoiled mine, my freshmen w/rides down to the field and after I graduated I come back during each band camp and bring ice cream for them, teehee :)
3. Band: At the beginning of each football game the marching band comes marching down a HUGE flight of concrete stairs that leads down the field.
4. "decorating" Senior Hall and the Band Room, it's a mess :)
5. Senior Bonfire, it takes place after the Powder Puff game and all the seniors just hang out and talk about the "good ole day's".
6. Staff vs. Senior Boys basketball game
7. Band: On the last football game the marching band goes to the local grade school to have their pep rally. Basically we only play the "good" music and dance, it's freaking awesome to see how the kids get involved :)
8. Snake Dance- Well, before we play our rival's we have this HUGE event, everyone joins hands and runs through town swinging eachother, the pep band plays (we frequently traded instruments so it was hilarious), the football team rides the semi and we just slink all through the town at night. The roads are all closed off and well, it's just a blast!

No senior skip day.
No senior parking lot.
No senior bench.

We had a senior lounge. That was fun. Only seniors could hang out there. :) It was a tiny room near the cafeteria.

Hey....
 

I took advantage of senior skip day four times other then that I didn’t partake in many of my High Schools traditions. I guess it was hard to take everything seriously when you had an older brother and knew what life outside of High School really was.

Every Friday there was a football game, students dressed in camo to show school spirit. We also brought empty gallon milk jugs filled with rocks to games...that is, if you didn't have your own cow bell.

There was also the Powder Puff thing...the Jr. and Sr. girls would play each other (wearing camo and red bandannas on their heads, of course), while the Jr. and Sr. guys dressed like cheerleaders. The lady, er, gentleman, with the best outfit won the title of "PowderPuff Queen." I think they quit doing the whole thing after I graduated, because it had supposedly gotten too rowdy.

*edited to add8How could I have forgotten about our Prom tradition? The whole town gathers around the entrance to watch the seniors go in and see what kind of vehicles they arrive in, because the stranger or more unique it was, the better. People went to prom in cattle trailers, motor boats, tractors, helicopters, hot air balloons, you name it. My date had to be boring and insist that we come in a Ford diesel flatbed truck, but hey, it was brand-new so I guess it could've been worse even though I had my heart set on coming in a Shelby Cobra, or at least some nice classic car.

we also had a senior lounge! it was on the rear side of the school, and it was a decent spot for SENIORS to eat their lunch (air conditioning, snack and soda machines) or have meetings or just chill.

another school tradition was the "soul train". it sounds SO stupid as i describe it, but it was the best thing in the world to me back in the day. :o :o

"soul train" is basically a pep rally before home FB and BB games. The band, cheerleaders, pom-pons, and the atheletes would meet up before school began and RUN through the halls... we'd all end up in the courtyard and have a pep rally in the morning (now that i think of it - that's stupid. we should have been pepped before the games).

In my HS we had a popular service org called Anchor Club...
The application process was rigorous, and if you made it the members would coordinate with your parents to suprise you on a Saturday morning (while still in your pj's) and kidnap you for the Anchor Club Breakfast at Chik-Fil-A. So you are sitting at this public place in your pj's and looking rough.....That could be hazing

We also had a Jr/Sr Powder Puff game that was mostly a prank war with the classes.

Homecoming: During homecoming week, the senior class ALWAYS "trashes" the campus....stacking picnic tables/trash cans, toilet papering, shaving cream on doors and windows, everything. The years before my senior year, seniors got really nasty and were putting feminine napkins and other things around the campus, even dead animal carcasses. We were warned before Homecoming week, but because of a Jewish holiday earlier in the season, our homecoming wasn't until the middle of November (basically the last home game of the year). Luckily for us, we had the Tuesday off (due to Veteran's Day), so the senior class schemed to decorate the campus early Wednesday morning....the administration had camped out to try and catch us, but we were able to get around them and run the "campus supervisor" around trying to catch everyone at about 4 in the morning. Of course I didn't participate, but I knew everything about it and since my mom was friends with the principal's secretary, we couldn't say anything to her so that anything was leaked....:)

The Pit: large open area on campus that we sat in for lunches, but was torn down for a expansion on our previous gym

Senior spaces: Seniors were allowed to "bid" on a particular space in the parking lot. I think I got mine for $50, but some went all the way up to $200! In the years previous, seniors were allowed to paint their spaces, but the administration discontinued that with our class.

Senior ditch day: Ours was an official ditch day (how wrong is that???) where we got permission slips to sign out of classes. I had an AP exam coming up, so I didn't go.

Senior breakfast: Week before we got out, we met in the middle school's all-purpose room and ate breakfast together. My senior year, our class officers handed out unofficial awards (like the yearbook ones)...I got Sweetest girl in my class! :cool:

Powder Puff between the juniors and the seniors (no hazing like the incident in Illinois) where football players coached their year's team, and I think we had male cheerleaders for one year, that's it

All athletics: On the way home from an away game, as soon as we were getting close to school, we would begin to sing the alma mater on the bus....great way to end a (usually) successful night!

Parking: In order to park on campus as a student, you had to meet 3 criteria: be a senior, be 17, and have your parents' permission. My 17th birthday was a couple months into senior year, but the administration didn't get around to issuing parking stickers until after my birthday... hehe ;)

There was an office building down the street from the school. Juniors with driver's licenses parked there. It was even called the junior parking lot. That building's security force kept threatening to crack down, but nothing ever happened.

Off-campus privileges: Juniors and seniors were allowed off campus during free periods. My senior year, I had first period free => I slept in :D

Senior skip day: Actually, most Fridays from about April on turned into unofficial senior skip days. I was taking too many AP's, though :( There was one official senior skip day, which "coincidentally" was the day yearbooks were distributed; you got your yearbook only if you attended your first-period class, otherwise you had to wait until after graduation. Did I mention I had first period free? ;)

Pep rallies: These were mandatory. The day was shortened to create an hour at the end of the day for the pep rally. Since they were mandatory, school security patrolled the exits to make sure no students left. :rolleyes: Lots of people bailed on their 9th period classes to get out before security closed the gates. Unfortunately, I never could sneak out because I was on the track team.

My HS always had an all night graduation party at a local community center on the night of graduation, so we would party resposibly.

Some stuff, but nothing overly cool....

We had a senior lounge. My class repainted it and added a ping pong table and fixed the pool table. You had to be a senior to even be in the senior lounge.

For band, we did a freshman "welcoming" (we couldn't call it initiation). Before I joined, it used to be crazy- TPing the houses, dressing up the freshman, making them sing for their sliverware at breakfast- hazing really. Then a couple seniors f-ed up royally, got in trouble with the cops, and messed it up for the rest of us. We just got to lamely decorate their front yards with signs and take them to breakfast.

For our Drama Workshop, in our dressing rooms, you got "passed down" a mirror that you did your makeup at. When I came in as a freshman, there was a free mirror that I got to have for the full four years. My junior year winter review- three freshman tried taking my mirror and I, in complete diva fashion, flipped out and took my mirror back. I later passed down my mirror to those three freshman.

Every year, there was always a senior prank, but nothing went down my senior year. Lack of communication I guess.

The monday after prom was the senior cut day and each year the administration threatened various things would happen to those who cut, but nothing ever came out of it.

For our Spirt Weeks, our class usually won everything- it made the classes ahead of us really pissed lol.

Overall, we really didn't have anything overly traditional- just typical.

"Project Graduation" started at a local high school in 1990 and this year, 90% of Hawaii high schools had their own Project Graduation celebrations. It's a great way to keep recent graduates safe and alcohol free.

My year our class parents rented out Barbers Point Officers' Club and we had billiards, darts, volleyball nets and a tennis court...as well as a swimming pool. We had a bunch of local bands and radio DJs also come down...at 2AM it was all you can eat sundaes! The location and the plans are a surprise to the class. We spent the entire year fundraising for it, so when we boarded the buses and got to our secret spot, everyone was happy!

In the morning, we all stood out on a hill overlooking the ocean and sang our alma mater one last time. :(

A few I forgot (oh how could I forget these??? :D)

Lunch: Seniors got to go off campus for lunch. It used to be only two or three days a week, but because our campus was in the midst of a MAJOR construction project our entire senior year, the administration allowed us to go off campus every day for lunch (not that I ever went off campus...okay, maybe once!)

Grad Nite: the night of graduation, we had an all night graduation party (as others have mentioned) as a safe and sober way to celebrate graduation and spend some time together for the last time as a senior class. There were carnival games and prizes and at the end of the night the tickets we earned from the games were put into baskets for raffles and we could win great prizes....all in all, it was a lot of fun! :)

Let's see....

Anchor Club/Key Club Initiation...aka HAZING. The new members would be dressed hideously and have to do all sorts of demenaing things both at school and around town. The big sisters/big brothers would surprise you after school...drenching you with ater, flouring you, etc and then it continued the next day..all day at school. There was even an Anchor Poem the new members would have to say..getting down on their knees and saying that they were "peons sailing their way to the sea of anchordom" :rolleyes:

Beat Auburn Week...Always the last football game of the season and Auburn HS was our rival. We had dress up days everyday (PJs, 70s, etc), each "class" was given a hall to decorate elaborately, etc.

Spirit Ribbons...always printed up with some "cute" slogan and sold the Friday of football games to wear at school.

Candy Grams...sold during the holidays by Anchor Club. Candy Canes with a cute message attached. It was a huge deal to see who was the "most popular" by how many candy canes one received.

Band "Ice Cream Social"...really it was where the band performed the show for the first time for boosters and parents and anyone else who wanted to come. Then a lot of band parents made homemade ice cream and served to everyone afterwards.

The Band (and fine arts programs in general) My HS had/has a phenomenal band program...always going on cool trips, winning awards, and representing at community things.

Senior Parties...OK so this is the deep south where everyone wants an excuse to have a party. So before graduation many parents throw parties for certain seniors. Not everyone is invited...it's a status thing. Pool parties, fondue parties, BBQs, cocktail parties. You name it, we had it...it got pretty exhausting after a while. Personally I didn't think graduating HS was that big of a deal. I knew I was going off to college and that my college degree was more significant...but that's just me!

Senior Skip Day--self explanatory

Senior Shakespeare Trip---everyone in the senior class who wanted to could go on a mini trip to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival to see a play. The ASF is really nice but whatever play we saw was REALLY boring. I think I fell asleep :cool:

I forgot a few of ours...

Auction (Cleanup)...basicly the parents club decorates the school and serves $100/plate meals and auctions off a bunch of stuff for WAY too much money.... And then the band comes in at 3am and cleans it all up...but it's lots of fun...

Chicken Thursday...yes we had chicken EVERY Thursday...except one time my sophomore year...and the cafeteria was litterally a frenzy that day because everyone was VERY upset...

Band lock-in...stayed up all night singing with a guitar/playing in the gym/watching Monty Python

Musical Cast parties...where else woukd your teacher dare you to go next door at midnight and ask for salt and a lime?

Hall decorating during homecoming: the seniors decorate with the best stuff, guard the hallway and scare away the freshman who dare to walk through it.

MY SENIOR YEAR: Car train. We started a car train from a church to school where we drove like 30 mph and hung out the windows and blared our car horns. Then we car trained into the school parking lot blaring our car horns and chanting...the administration didn't do anything but laugh. We got the radio station on the phone and requested "our song" Men in Black. Then two of my guy friends jumped out of their cars and started doing their "dance" that basically copied Triple X's "Suck IT" gestures from five years ago. (This was on the last day of school too)

Senior Prank: My friend drove his car up on school property and did cookies around the flag pole and drove off. Administration came running out but couldn't do anything cuz he was gone.

OTHER Senior Prank: My friend phoned in to the school saying there were COWS in the senior parking lot near the swimming pool doors. LMFAO~ administration started running down the hall with their walkie-talkies only to find nothing there.

My HS had more traditions than I care to list here:D

I'll give a few of the more interesting.

Pep Club initiation: This was a weeklong event in which all freshman girls were initiated into the Pep Club. On the final day they had to wear white t-shirts, green skirts, six pony tails, faces had to be painted with spots (as to resemble dogs). They had to get 20 signatures from Seniors that could tell them to do anything they wanted. At the end of the day was an all-school assembly where a select-few were chosen to engage in what I think most of our hazing policies would refer to as "public displays of buffoonery". Yeah, it was fun to watch.

Mens Club: This was a real funny thing.. Freshmen men had to eb initiated as well. There was a certain dress code that they had at the end of the week but the fun stuff didn't come until after hours. The year after I would have joined, the club was disbanded (this only lasted a year) because the new guys were taken out to a favorite local drinking spot and were doing the elephant walk (if you're familiar with that, I won't go into detail here). So yeah, if someone had a video camera at one of these initiations it would have definitely been on all the TV stations:D

Pep Rallys: These were huge. I'm sure every school has them, but compared to the other HS I attended (which was 4 times larger) there was really no comparison. The student body showed up in body paint, screaming their lungs out, all that stuff. Everyone knows their class songs, chants, etc. The loudest class was awarded the spirit stick and points for the overall year (somehow Seniors won the final count every year). But if you didn't have some voice loss after one of these assemblies, something was wrong with you. I'm grateful I was in the band:D

Parking: Seniors parked in a certain specified area. If you were not a senior and parked there, even after school and for a few minutes you would expect your tires to be slashed.

Clancy: Between JR. and SR. halls (the school was like an I shape with 4 halls, each containing the lockers of a certain class) there was a seal with our mascot, Clancy on it. Only Seniors were allowed to touch it. If a non-senior was caught by a Senior walking on it or touching the seal in any way they had to kiss it.

There's plenty more...

Anyow, I didn't think any of this stuff was really all that bad. We got away with A LOT more in HS than I'd even consider in my Fraternity.

This is a cool thread!!! Sorry for the late reply. Anyway, here goes

House initation: Every student from Grade 7 to high school graduation is a member of a house. At the time I was at BSS, there were 8 houses (it has since expanded to 12). There is friendly competition between these houses in terms of school spirit. At the end of the year, the house with the most points (i.e. the most spirited house) is awarded. Anyway, at the first house meeting in September, all new students are initated. Of course, there are different ceremonies in different houses as there are different colours and mascots.

Boys in Chapel: I went to an all girls' school, and once in a while, guys from guys only schools in Toronto would pay us a visit (the guys tend to come from Upper Canada College (yes, it's a elementary/high school. Lots of private schools in Canada have "College" in their name despite not offering anything at the college level beyond AP/IB classes), Crescent School and Royal St. George's College. These guys would sit through our service, and would do announcements. Sometimes they'd come up with some funky/hilarious skit. I would say that they came a few times a year, during our "theme" weeks.

Theme Weeks: They occur three or four times a year usually to raise money for various organizations or to honour a particular part of the school (e.g. boarding or the arts). There would be lunch time activities (such as video dance parties, air bands (lip synchs), coffee houses, etc) . The week almost always ends with a grub day.

Grub Day: Once every other month or so. Pay $1.00-2.00 and you don't have to wear your uniform for the day.

Grad Ties: Students in the graduating class are allowed to wear a differnt coloured tie. It is black with white and burgundy stripes.

Hell Night: Hell Night occurs the evening before the last day of classes. The graduating class would gather at classmate's home for dinner and then an evening of "disruction" on campus. I don't know what they do now, but when I was at BSS, they had pretty much the same thing each year. See next entry for details

Grad Chapel: Occurs the day after Hell Night. Before the chapel service, younger students are treated to a morning of "bouncey castles", pop corn, cotton candy, etc. Basically, there is a mini-carnival in the front lawn of the school. Chapel follows. It isn't a traditional chapel service, but a fun service that honours the grads. "Most Likely Tos" are read at this service

Leaving Girls' Luncheon: Hosted by a family near the school for the grad class. Usually occurs on the last day of school.

Folk Group Farewell Performance: The Folk Group is a branch of the Senior Choir that sings "light sounds" to an acoustic guitar. At the final "formal" chapel service (which occurs before Grad Chapel), they perform something for the Leaving Class. In my year, we sang "In The Wings" by Tara McLean. Other years have performed "The Wood Song" (Indigo Girls) and I'm pretty sure Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You" was recently used as well)

Nativity: Annual holiday tradition since the 1920s when the chapel was built. The Senior Choir sings, a cappella from the dark chapel balcony while the Christmas story is mimed, in slow motion in the front. There are narrators as well, who speak very, very slowly.

Christmas Giving Skit: Done on the last day of school before the December break. Grad class does a parody skit of the teachers. Really fun.

Mother/Daughter Luncheon: Usually occurs early in the school year. There may be a fashion show, speeches, etc. Usually held on a Sunday.

Father/Daughter Dance: When I was there, it occured the Friday of March Break. That is, Friday was the last day of classes before we were let off for our two week long vacation (private schools have traditionally had an extra week off in March). Girls would be really dressed up (including the 12 year olds in Grade 7) and their Daddies (or stepdads or uncles) would be their dates. Dinner and dance.

Old Girls/U20 Basketball Game: Occurs each year during Harvest Games/Reunion Weekend. It's a friendly competition between grads (usually recent grads) and the current senior team.

Well, that's all I can think of right now. It's almost 2 am here!!

P.S. Cutiepie2000, you said you went to boarding school. Which one did you go to?

P.P.S: EDITED TO ADD: Oh my gosh!!!! How can I forget the tea receptions? During intermission of many of our performances and of course, after prize giving/graduation, there is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a tea reception We always have these amazing brownies. Also, for the reception after prize day, there are these AMAZING frozen strawberries on a toothpick

We had the senior bench...well, actually every class had a bench, and we decorated them every year, but anyone could sit on the other classes' benches but if you sat on the senior bench and you weren't a senior, there'd be isht to pay.
The school has a big board hanging in the hallway, where every year we would do the how-many-days-til-graduation countdown, using the number from our graduation year. (Ie, Class of 99 started counting down at 99 days til graduation, Class of 2000 was 100 days, and my class, 2001, started out at 101 til graduation. Every day our senior sponsor would go send some senior in his first period class out to change the number.
We also had a little store to raise money for graduation stuff. Before 1st period started, the store was open in our senior sponsor's classroom, and we'd sell things like PopTarts, Little Debbie cakes, chips, Capri Suns, waters, etc. Lots of people were getting really healthy breakfasts, there. :p
We also did a courtyard picture that went in the yearbook, where all the seniors gathered in the courtyard, posed with their friends, and got our picture taken.
Our last day of classes/finals was two days before graduation, and it was a half day, and after we got released on that day we would always go pile into our cars and drive around the school several times and then around post (my HS was on a military post), honking our horns and yelling out of the windows and stuff. Some people decorated their cars, too.
Seniors were also the only ones who got to leave campus for lunch.

Wow you guys had a lot of traditions! We had our normal events... but not split by years or anything....

this thread is sooooo "high school"

:rolleyes:

Kitso
KS 361 times y'all need to get OVER HS, its' OVER!






































;)

::laughs::
 

For a brief second, you guys are making me all sentimental and "i miss high school"-y and then I think back to all the BS associated with HS and i think.












God I'm glad to be out :-)

I went to a somewhat small, high school in a rural community, so some of our stuff doesn't even compare to what i've been reading......

let's see.
Homecoming Theme Days, Usually there was an overall theme, and each class had to think of their own subtheme....for example.....one year it was Movies and there was "Wizard of Oz, Batman, Grease, and the Flintstones" (we were batman) Each grade decorated their hall and made class tshirts....(we won the hall decorating contest for batman, it was great. We also did floats and had pj day and purple and white day (our colors). We had powerpuff my junior year, it was cancelled my senior year (we were pissed) and it started again after I graduated. My junior year, the seniors pulled a lot of isht that freaked the administration out and then when people not even associated with the senior class started stuff up again, they put the halt on the game the afternoon OF the game. We had already shelled out $40 for the sweats (we played in sweat pants and a hoodie) and had spent a couple months practicing. But the morning of the game, there was a running of the halls and the seniors and the juniors would start at opposite ends of the school and run through the halls, chanting and cheering, marking up underclassman with "01" or "02" (grad year) or "s" or "j" or just in whatever color each class had....a lot of time silly string in corresponding colors were used.....the younger kids usually really got into it and would be COVERED in marks by the end of the day.....(if a senior marked an S, usually juniors would attack and mark a J over it, and then the seniors would remark, etc etc etc) I remember our class cheers.. "S E N I O R S, seniors seniors seniors" "2 0 0 1, we're the class of 01 go seniors!"

We had "official skip day" the monday after prom......our parents sponcered an afterprom party and then an afterprom party after party trip to Cedar Point.......they really wanted to keep us occupied...but we didn't usually get back from CP until about 9pm sunday night, so we were all exhausted.

In drama, we used to do this thing called "Husha" which is hilarious, because we'd keep it a big secret and tell all the new people it's where we have our secret sacrifices to the theater gods.....::rolls her eyes:: if you stood outside the room during husha, you'd believe it....basically it's just an unwinding before the show...we all go into the prop room, and there's some stuff done, that's confidental (hey, i kind of treat it like my fraternities rituals) but it's FAR from bad, it's bonding..and then we all scream and yell and beat the cupboards to get out our nerves and anxities before the show. We also had candle after the last show before the wrap party. That I can't really tell you about, but i can tell you what I told people it was :-) I would tell the new kid that I had become good friends with (i wouldn't tell this to someone that didn't know me well ::laughs:: it might have scared them severely) that candle is where we pour hot wax on their hands to work on composure. ::grins:: man, i was evil......
We also had a theater ghost, supposedly, but who knows about that......

Class tourney was great, it was field day, but grade vs grade.....no question, seniors won all the time, but it was great....it was an all day thing and had everything from jello wrestling, to tug of war, to pillow jousting, to lip sync, to trivia contest, to soccer, basketball, track, volleyball, and egg toss...there was also hall decorations, but those usually took back stage to everything else. It was fun, but the tradition was starting to lose steam by my senior year, i think it might be gone :-( I hate to see traditions die like that

~*~Mandie~*~