US style graduation (kinda long)

poco214 poco214 at comcast.net
Fri Jul 12 03:33:00 UTC 2002


I should know...I graduated this year in June. Yay!

I went to a public school...requirements for private schools are different.

Anyway, in New Jersey the state requirements are:
4 years of English
3 years of History (2 have to be US History, 1 of either World History or World Culture)
3 years of Math
3 years of Science
2 years of a Language (our school offers Spanish and French)
2 years of Fine/Practical/Performing Arts 
One year of Phys. Ed./Health for every year attended.  So if you flunk English your senior year you have to take English and gym again.

I had to take the HSPT (High School Proficiency Test) in 11th grade to graduate...now students take the HSPA ( a revamped version).

The ceremony was at 10:00 am, the Saturday after the last day of school.

Our graduation took place on the football field, where folding chairs are set up in rows with an isle down the middle and a podium in the front.  Relatives sat in the bleachers.  We walked in to Pomp and Circumstance around the track to our seats.

The top ten students were seated by rank in the first row on one side( I was third! ), the class officers on the other.  All the other students got to sit where they wanted.

We wore robes and hats of our school colors.  Boys in garnet and girls in gold (though they were actually maroon and yellow).  The hats do not stay on very well and look ridiculous.  The robes are really hot when you're wearing them over a dress or a suit and you're sitting in the hot sun.  I thought I was going to die of heat stroke.

A couple of administrators, the class advisors (two teachers), the class president, the valedictorian, and the salutorian made speeches.  We then get our names called and walked up to receive our diploma.  Our actual diploma is up at the school; they don't give them to us until afterwards in case someone is a discipline problem during the ceremony.  

We got to write a message of 10 words or less on a card and a teacher read our message over the microphone as we shook hands with the administrators.

In other schools, graduation is a solemn ceremony but not in our school. -_-*
People hired planes with trailing messages and brought boat horns to honk.  I think I saw a couple of signs and foam fingers in the stands.

Afterwards, there were about 10 different bar-b-ques to go to, held by random students.  We spent the next few days party hopping.

Prom is a totally unconnected event.

Ours took place in the first week of June.  It was highly formal.  Most students came in a limo, though one group rented a trolley.  My friends and I came in an antique Rolls-Royce and an orange '72 Chevelle convertible :)  We stayed overnight at a friend's house and then drove up to Pennsylvania the next day, where we stayed the weekend.  Most people rent a hotel afterwards in another town and stay overnight there.  

Phew, this was a long post!

Hope that was at least a little helpful :) 

Dana


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