Another high school graduation post, and this one is all about ME!! Actually, this post is about two graduations. My high school graduation was on Saturday June 6th 1992...please don’t remind me that my 20th Class Reunion is [gulp] NEXT YEAR!! Not gonna think about that right now…
Anyway, I graduated from Greeley Central High School (go Wildcats!) and the ceremony was held out on the football field. There was some concern that the weather would not be amenable, but it turned out to be a very nice, warm, clear day. I remember feeling very anxious, nervous, excited about the day, about the whole experience. In the back of my mind, though, I had the nagging thoughts about my future and what I was going to do. I still hadn’t made up my mind about college and I was uncertain just what I wanted to do.
I had a great cheering section in the stands on Graduation Day: my family, friends of the family and my Aunt Kathy and her son Matt (my 'soul' cousin) - Matt had just recently graduated from high school. When my name was read and I walked up to the podium to receive my diploma I heard loud cheers and shouts for me, which was really cool! I don’t remember very much about the ceremony itself (and my journal entry from that day did not fill in any of the gaps - I just wrote about my feelings and touchy-feely junk like that!)
I do remember that the school’s choir performed the Boyz II Men hit “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday” (gee, have I dated myself by mentioning this song?!); at the end of the ceremony everyone was instructed to swoop their tassel on their cap as a sign of moving in a new direction (or some other touchy-feely sentiment), and then we tossed our caps and gowns into the air! YAY!! I made certain to find my cap afterwards, though, because we had to buy our cap and gown! True story! It was a raw deal, but on the other hand it did become useful as a Halloween costume a few years later…
Afterwards, my family had a nice graduation party for me back home, and I went to a friend’s graduation party. All in all, it was a great, fun day!
Three years later, on Friday June 9th 1995, I had another graduation day, this time from Aims Community College (go...Aardvarks?!) I received my Associates Degree in Liberal Arts - Psychology. So, I ended up going to college after all. And while it did take me longer to finish my 2 year degree (I took off a few semesters), I felt so glad to be done with this chapter in my life. I felt relieved and satisfied.
Aunt Kathy and Me
Once again, I had my family and friends supporting me on my special day! My Aunt Kathy traveled from Utah to attend my graduation and gave me an awesome graduation gift - a journal!! Needless to say I put that to good use!
The good: I'm taller than Jordan
The bad: He's taller than me now
The ugly: My mullet
Once again, I had to purchase my cap and gown (oh well, another Halloween costume I suppose!), although many students opted not to wear this apparel at the ceremony, one of the glaring differences between a high school graduation and a college graduation. I wanted to be traditional, plus I was a fan of the color. Unfortunately, I was also a fan of “the mullet” at the time, which is so embarrassing for me now!
As for a graduation party, I had a combined party with my sister Jaimee a few days earlier, as she had graduated from high school this year. It was a special occasion, but more on that tomorrow…
I still don't really remember the mullet. It looks familiar in the pictures, but I guess I just never thought it was that different from what others were wearing at that time.
ReplyDeleteI remember how cool I thought you were (and still do) at BOTH graduations. Thanks for setting such a good example of scholastic achievement!
I was just thinking about this the other day. I remember sitting with our moms and having a good time. The people in front of us were getting mad at us because we were mocking the butchered Boyz to Men song.
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