Graduation

Welcome to Wondercafe2!

A community where we discuss, share, and have some fun together. Join today and become a part of it!

KayTheCurler

Well-Known Member
Like many others, we had graduation ceremonies to attend recently. First off our youngest grand graduated from Kindergarten. This is something that strikes me as more than a little bizarre. It is automatic for kids to move on following a year of school. No doubt I'm just as Old World grump who thinks there should be an achievement before a celebration! However, it happened and next year there will be Grade One.

Next was grand #5 completing High School. He had the third highest mark in his year -pretty cool. Snagged a $1600 scholarship too, but plans to work for a while - started his new job today, in fact. I was delighted to meet some of his friends who are also founding members of the Gay Straight Alliance at that school. There seems to be a much greater level of acceptance in that school than in our own local one. Other differences include a more affordable series of events. No one needed a special suit or dress as all the official things were done in supplied gowns!!
 
First off our youngest grand graduated from Kindergarten

Our son had a Kindergarten graduation, but he was moving from a private pre-school to the public system, so an argument could be made. He then had graduations at grade 8 and high school.
 
I started school at four, changed schools at seven and eleven, continued to age fifteen and went out to work No grad celebration at any level. Nowadays it seems the kids get all sorts of attention for merely doing what is normal - going to school!
 
I had a preschool grad, an elementary grad, a jr. high grad, high school grad, and university grad (and kinda tagged onto some of the stuff in my 2nd last year, as most of my biochem classmates were graduating and I did do my biochem honours project that year).
I do recall the one my Mom felt was silly was the elementary school one, it was all part of the school day so many parents had to take off work if they wanted to attend. Pre-school isn't covered by the government here unless there are developmental delays, so preschool to kindergarten is a big step. Also there's the age aspect 2-3 years is a significant portion of a preschoolers life!

Jr. high was all in the evening and really didn't take up parents time much beyond the awards nights for the other grades. There was a dance though, so some parents were involved with the pickup after.

Kindergarten I don't really understand as here schools tend to be K-6 or K-9. So it's not like one is switching schools. If it's similar to what Mendalla suggested I get it more.

Grade 12 grad could be toned down IMO. Funny how the university grad doesn't have all the fanfare but I think it's a much bigger accomplishment.

The only one that I can think of where grandparents would have been really welcomed was university though. Maybe preschool (I don't remember). For everything else, seating was too limited.
 
Funny how the university grad doesn't have all the fanfare but I think it's a much bigger accomplishment.

Depends on the university and family. We went all in for my university graduation, moreso than for high school. Grandad actually had an honorary doctorate from Waterloo (long story) where I did my BA so was able to process in with the faculty in full regalia (he also had an earned ThD so was quite legitimately Rev. Dr. Grandad). It was my favorite graduation even if the convocation address was terrible.
 
Depends on the university and family. We went all in for my university graduation, moreso than for high school. Grandad actually had an honorary doctorate from Waterloo (long story) where I did my BA so was able to process in with the faculty in full regalia (he also had an earned ThD so was quite legitimately Rev. Dr. Grandad). It was my favorite graduation even if the convocation address was terrible.
Yeah, some families might do something big. I'm thinking in terms of the schools themselves though. Biochem was a subsection of the department and for that one of the profs used to organize a dinner and the students would do a bit of a roast of the profs. The profs would give out some fun awards to students too. Like I got a 'girly-girl' award (along with another person). Sounds sexist but I understand the intent behind it, especially considering certain classes I took - I stood out. It also came from a female prof and it was moreso about connection rather than making a sexist comment. If it wasn't for that one particular prof who did the organizing for the dinner, that never would have happened.
Chemistry there was a very light lunch after walking the stage, just done in the one food place (closed for the summer - we used the tables there) right outside the chem dept.

Had I actually finished grad school - many don't even bother going to the convocation ceremony as depending on the defense date the ceremony can be close to half a year later. Since we would probably still be living here if I had a full time job, I likely would have gone and I think my parents would have liked to come and visit at the time. Many people move to do their post doc and don't think it's worth travelling back. Supervisor takes people out for dinner after defending. The person who finished also takes the group out at some point.

High school there was the grad ceremony itself, the grad dinner with the class historians presentation and dance on the stampede grounds and after grads (officially not done by the school, but student council were the ones organizing the 2 options). There was also a separate awards night.
 
I think going “all out” for high school makes sense. Not everyone goes to post secondary so high school IS their only graduation and why not celebrate that. In June my high school had “parent grad” which was dinner and a dance and later in June we had an unofficial prom. In October of the next year we had the official graduation ceremony.

My schools went K-5, 6-8 and 9-12. I think I something in kindergarten but don’t
remember, we didn’t do anything for grade 5 but grade 8 was a big deal as well. I could see cutting back on grade 8.

For my BA, my parents and brother came and we went out for lunch afterwards. I stayed and went to a party at a friend’s that night and watched one of my other friends graduate the next morning. There wasn’t any official school run or department run reception or anything.

I didn’t go to the graduation for my post grad degree. My program was separate from the school itself so I didn’t feel a connection to the institution and the ceremony was almost a year after we had left (we had a co-op placement over the summer and graduation wasn’t until the following June). I didn’t feel the need to go and neither did most of my class.
 
I think going “all out” for high school makes sense. Not everyone goes to post secondary so high school IS their only graduation and why not celebrate that. In June my high school had “parent grad” which was dinner and a dance and later in June we had an unofficial prom. In October of the next year we had the official graduation ceremony.

My schools went K-5, 6-8 and 9-12. I think I something in kindergarten but don’t
remember, we didn’t do anything for grade 5 but grade 8 was a big deal as well. I could see cutting back on grade 8.

For my BA, my parents and brother came and we went out for lunch afterwards. I stayed and went to a party at a friend’s that night and watched one of my other friends graduate the next morning. There wasn’t any official school run or department run reception or anything.

I didn’t go to the graduation for my post grad degree. My program was separate from the school itself so I didn’t feel a connection to the institution and the ceremony was almost a year after we had left (we had a co-op placement over the summer and graduation wasn’t until the following June). I didn’t feel the need to go and neither did most of my class.
In high school, it wasn't even dependent on who actually graduated. The school did base it on what was available, but depending on the draw (the ceremony used a stage at ACAD I think it was) for the dates that the school got, the class marks might not be in and the diploma marks were certain a way out. There was never a high school stage walk with our real diplomas. The staff did try to be generous, but there were some who did not get to walk the stage, nor were they able to buy their allotted tickets for the dinner & dance although they could go as guests of a student who was considered to be graduating. After grad tickets were available to all students. We may have been limited to 2 each though, not sure how that worked.

I wouldn't want high school grad to be eliminated all together, but it was rather excessive. Dresses (I ended up with 3, was planning on the same dress for ceremony & after grad but found 2 dresses I really liked and they did get additional use), shoes, clutch, limo, merchandise, historian video, hair appointment, dinner & dance tickets. There was also the time for the class historian presentation, grad committee, merchandise sales, ticket sales, fashion show. The bridal stores would note the school down to avoid duplicates of dresses, not a perfect system but it worked reasonably well. I was on the grad committee and we were asked to try to get people to stay for the dance portion. With the nightclub after grads many would leave shortly after the dance portion started.
 
Our 'big' thing towards the end of our school year was the Awards presentations. Prizes and certificates for each class in every subject. Prizes were books and I still have some of the ones I was awarded. There was sometimes a famous person invited to give a speech and hand out the prizes. The only one I actually remember was Dame Edith Sitwell.
 
Back
Top