Saying goodbye

okay, you guys, i just thought i should let you know that this is my 100th post. so let's celebrate! and what better was to Celebrate than by recapping last night's graduation. I was an usher last night at graduation, along with a few other class of 09 people. we were supposed to meet in the back of the parking lot at McDonalds at 5:45. so i got there a tad early, and at first no one came. i thought i was just going to drive myself over. but then three other girls came and asked me if i had a parking pass. since i was the only one of us who had the special parking pass, i took all three of them with me. so we go to Messiah College, and i park where my dad always parks for work, which is where Mrs. Sassaman instructed me to park. And then we get in to where we need to be, and get instructions from Mrs. Sassaman and Mrs. Hoover. After that we got to take tickets and hand out programs as people came in. all in all it was very well organized. Mrs. Sassaman does a great job, and the Campus Events team also does a wonderful job at running this whole thing.

Eventually it was time to start. They had a few stray chairs for us to sit, or we could go and find somewhere to sit, but that seemed a lot harder to do, so i just grabbed a folding chair and positioned myself right next to a door. there was another guy there with me who decided to camp out there as well. it actually helped out because we were able to be there to answer people's questions, while still being able to enjoy the ceremony.

i found it fascinating how everyone entered. most of the high school teachers, along with some middle school teachers, and elementary school principals came in dressed in their cap and gowns. they formed the aisle for the students to walk through. then the students came in two by two, and they got to see all their teachers, who had the opportunity to offer their congratulations to them. i got to say hi to a bunch of my teachers, including some of the middle school ones. That was really neat, and i'm glad i was able to see it before i actually went through it.

I also liked that they came in two, because it's a smart way to speed up the process. also, i think it must have been nice for the students as they could have someone to talk to or just have there in case they felt like going crazy. once they all got in and seated, the senior class president came and gave a speech. then the superintendent gave a speech. then three speeches, two being metaphor speeches. the last one was really funny.

After that Mr. Harris(head principal) came up and started calling all the names of everyone. it actually went pretty quick, which made me surprised. i guess i do need to remind myself that my class is a bit bigger than the class of '08.

Towards the beginning there was one name we were listening for. his first name is Easton, and we've been waiting six years for him to finish high school. and we were hoping so bad that he would graduate this year, because he's 21 now, or he will be 21, so he wouldn't be allowed to come back next year. his last name starts with a B, so he walked across the stage early on. once they called his name, everyone in those maroon cap and gowns were on their feet cheering that he had finally passed through beyond high school. I'm not sure how many of the parents and other family members out there knew what was going on, but it was priceless to see that class give so much support to him. i'm pretty sure the cheering went on for at least a minute before Mr. Harris resumed the rest of the names of everyone else.

throughout the rest of the ceremony, i made sure to clap loud for all my friends. They came out the same way they came in, minus the teachers. I liked this because then i could say hi to my friends as they went out.

I had tried to take as many pictures as possible, but a lot of them were blurry. Dad says it's hard to take pictures in that Arena, although i'm not really sure why. But i do know that i tried my best, and ended up getting some good ones. even some of the blurry ones look artistic. if you're friends with me on facebook, you can go right now to check out the album of my pictures from graduation.

i'm very glad i got to see graduation from this side of things first. being the oldest, this whole process of being a senior is so new to myself and my parents. It's nice to have such great friends to go before you and help to guide your steps as you follow.

Today i get to complete another step towards officially being a senior. i have senior pictures later today. i hope the rain either just pours down now, or holds off all together, because i really want a lot of outside pictures. oh well, i'm sure it'll work out.

Congratulations Class of 2008. May God be with you as you face the next stage in your life. I'll still be here in high school if anyone wants to come visit. :-P