High School traditions

[Kevin]

My HS had more traditions than I care to list here

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

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

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.

[Taualumna]

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

[TigerLilly]

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.
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.

[kappaloo]

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"



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

[DG515]

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~*~