Not just another graduation

I guess because I'm a class advisor I felt a special closeness with this bunch of seniors, and there are many of them that I know pretty well and am genuinely fond of. So watching everyone get ready was really fun.

I got asked to hold stuff- gowns, purses, umbrellas, "spit that out now" gum- whatever they needed. Getting them ready for their class picture had a herding cats-like feel to it, but they were all so happy that it never got annoying. It was raining and one girl was late because she was trapped in her car with no umbrella to protect her hair. Then, when the rain let up, her heels were so high she had to walk verrrrrry slooooowly into the auditorium.

My favorite picture comment was someone who was the youngest child in a family celebrating that they would finally have a picture on the mantle along with all of their older siblings' graduation photos.

Then I went upstairs to the sanctuary and chatted with parents, graduates, other teachers for quite a while until it was time to start, at which time it was just my job to make sure all the teachers had places to sit. Here are my stray observations from the inner periphery.

The students had been given sheets of paper with their names in order to reserve seats. It was interesting to try to create a psychological profile of someone based on where they chose to have their family sit. It would have been funny if someone had put their families scattered about instead of all together.

One of my favorite moments was when a speaker asked the students to stand unexpectedly (and unreahearsedly). Since all the girls in the front row we instructed to sit with their ankles crossed, the boys stood right up while I watched the girls all uncross their ankles and then stand. When they were seated they all re-crossed them.

I guess since I was sitting with my head around the stage level, I had a good view of footwear. Some of the smaller girls were more comfortable with their stature than others, and so wore relatively flat shoes. Others wore big platforms. And maybe it's just me, but those big chunky espadrilles with all the ties wrapped around the ankles end up looking kind of like shredded Chucks.

The student speakers were all excellent. A couple of them really made me well up a bit.

The keynote speech was the only one that really sounded like a regular kind of speech. I'm more of a fan of the kinds of speech given by the late David Foster Wallace (now a book called This Is Water). I can never sit through one of these without writing a keynote speech in my head. I actually came up with enough stuff that I wrote it down when I got home.

From a teacher's perspective, it's always kind of strange to see people that you spent a lot of time with and got, if not close, then at least extremely comfortable with over 4 or 5 years just exiting your life. It's sad and exciting at the same time. It does drive home how unusual the teacher/student relationships that grow at this school are. There's no real relationship box to put them in. It's not a friendship exactly but it's far more than just teacher/mentor. It's kind of like parenting except without its inherent overwhelming always and forever responsibility. The awkwardness of it shows up, for me at least, in whether to hug someone.  I like to hug as a matter of course, but my general rule with students is that I don't touch the kid unless the kid touches me first or comes at me with open arms. This occasionally yields a funny unsure little dance.

After the ceremony there's a dessert reception. As I always do, I come in, do a couple of laps around the room to see whoever and then exit. The desserts were good this year, I thought. My favorite touch was the little freezer with ice cream sandwiches and chocolate eclairs.

I'd love to try to sum up here, but as usual, it takes a while for me to really understand how I feel about something. I guess I hope I can keep in good enough touch with enough of these kids that I don't miss them too much.