It was twenty years ago today...
 

... that I graduated high school with the Class of 1983 of North Miami Senior High School in North Miami, Florida.

One thing I'll never forget about my graduation ceremony was tossing my mortarboard in the air (with everyone else -- in defiance of the administration) when we were pronounced graduates by the School Board. Most emotional moment? When we all stood, linked hands and sang our alma mater as a class for the last time:

Oh, hail to thee, our Al-ma Ma-ter,
For in our hearts we sing to thee...

O'er the fair Atlantic shore, the sun fills each new day
With bright hopes now and more each morrow
For the Green and Gray!
To thee we pledge our loyalty, to thee our minds and hearts;
From thy radiant Green and Gray, our love will ne'er depart!
Hail to North Miami, hail to North Miami, hail... to... thee!

So what was your most memorable moment from your high school graduation ceremony?

(Interesting to note: our Alma Mater is an original composition, there are many high school Alma Mater songs that adapt their lyrics to the tune of "High Above Cayuga's Waters".)

Yea! I hope you are going to a reunion! I think they are fun. At my last one, it seemed that EVERYONE was glad to see each other, even if we had not been especially close in high school . My school is having a reunion in July for the classes of '67, '68, and '69. One night all the old bands from the day are going to play for the dance. People are coming back from all over!

At my graduation, the rumor was that we were going to march in to "Hey Jude," but we didn't - we got plain ole "Pomp and Circumstance."

i only graduated hs in 1999, but it was a great ceremony...i cried the whole time.

it was our principal's last year....the school opened in 1990, so he'd been the only principal there. he gave a beautiful and sweet speech...and our chorus sang, and then a group of 4 (4 of my best theatre friends) sang this song....so help me i can't even think of what it was....but i was just crying. and my friend luke, looked at me while he was up there singing, winked and then mouthed, "it's ok, i love you"....the beginning of our soph year of college, he passed away in his sleep.

such a bitter-sweet memory.....but i cherish it.

Congratulations!
 

My fondest memory of HS graduation was when it was over. I wish I had the cuddly memories of HS, but I really don't; I had a good time in HS, but I didn't understand why everyone was crying during grad. I finally understood during my college graduation.

It'll be 10 years ago next year for me.

Class of 94

i graduated 4 years ago this past tuesday...June 10, 1999
i could not wait to get the hell out of there...small town politics.

the things i remember from my high school graduation were...
-my class history speach, i was class president so i had a speach.
-when my name was called all i could hear was this horn loud as hell...my uncle had taken this huge air horn off of one if his truck (he has a trucking business). it was so loud that it startled me at first and i could not even hear any of my friends chear for me.
-the craziness after the ceremoney was over...we were all on the field looking for our friends, family, etc...it was the last time i actually saw a few people...kinda sad.

Going to a reunion?!?!? Hell, I'm the poor, dumb S.O.B. who's done most of the grunt work planning for our 20-year class reunion! :D (Biggest pain in the a** is the alumni search.) Already got my tickets, hotel and plane ride reserved and paid for! :)

Interesting bit of trivia: 'Pomp and Circumstance' (technically, the second movement of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1) was composed as part of the coronation march of King Edward VII.

Graduated 21 years ago this month
 

But didn't attend my reunion last year. Wasn't ready for it. Now maybe, when I get to be 47 and have something to show off, ;) I will go to my 30th.

I also graduated 21 years ago this month. I went to my 10th and it was interesting. I plan on going to my 25th or 30th.

HS Graduation
 

Okay, so I only graduated 5 years ago this past Wednesday, but the things I'll never forget from my high school graduation:

1. As a competitive senior class (grade wise) we had 2 valedictorians and 4 salutatorians. Rather than everyone giving speeches, the valedictorians were the only ones to speak (besides the ASB and class presidents)...the salutatorians paired up and were in charge of leading the pledge of allegiance (for 2 of them) and the other 2 were in charge of introducing our special guests (more on that in a minute!) The one valeductorian's speech I will always remember, because he began his speech by putting on a watermelon helmet (that he had carved out himself)....we were all rolling in the aisles!

2. My next door neighbor had graduated from the high school 50 years earlier than I did (back in 1948). My mom, as the co-chair of Grad Nite, also worked with our class advisor and invited the members of the class of 1948 back to participate in graduation with us (since they didn't have a graduation ceremony). There were 8 who participated with us, and it was so much fun meeting them and having them a part of our ceremony (these are the people that the other 2 salutatorians introduced).

3. A tradition with graduation and our principal was he always promised the senior class that he would have us through the ceremony within 1 hour, or he would treat the entire senior class to dinner. We timed it and found he was over, but he swore he wasn't so he got out of the whole dinner thing (no class ever had dinner bought for them).

4. I think we also had the requisite beach balls, bubbles, and doing the "wave" as part of the ceremony.

wow alphasigou, you graduated high school a month before i was born!

anyway, the best part of my high school graduation ceremony was when our valedictorian made a comment in his speech that i will never forget. he said that he wished he had spent less time studying and more time getting to know the people in our class, since most of us didn't grow close until the end of our days in high school.

Congratulations on your 20-year reunion!

I've got 15 more to go till I'm in your shoes :)

Most memorable part? The end..lol. I didn't see it as a big deal b/c I knew my college experience was going to bigger and better than anything in high school. I saw graduation not as the end...but as the beginning of the rest of my life. (as cheesy as that may sound)

We had ours indoors that year b/c we had horrible thunderstorms that day/night. We normally held it outside in the football stadium due to the # of graduates and the large number of people attending. So the day OF graduation we had to go pick up tickets to get our family into the performing arts center. If I recall we were only allotted 4 or 5 each and many people had lots of family coming in....so they set up a closed circuit TV channel and put all of the overflow people without a ticket in the gym. According to my relatives and many others...the gym was PACKED. That is the only time that anyone can recall that the ceremony was held indoors.

Re: Congratulations!
 

I'm kinda with you on that. But I did cry when I joined the choir one last time. I got burned real bad by choir too and left with a lot of bad memories, but I just loved singing so much that it killed me that it was my last time singing with such an excellent choir.

Which you can hear here: (Alma Mater song).
http://gleeclub.cornell.edu/music/default.php