Graduation

Well, it is official. I am the proud owner of another expensive piece of paper. True to form we behaved just like the students that we will teach. As Junior/Intermediates we were excited to the point of antsy, our enthusiasm was not kept quiet either. Lined up with our section mates; people we had grown close to, worked with, partied with, and even cried with. People who were virtual strangers in September, thrown together randomly and told that these would be the people we would work with for the rest of the year. As sections go, J/I 2 rocked! I am not saying that everyone got along with everyone, however, for the most part we got along and had a great time while we were at it.

We were marched out of the school and around to the side of the gym where we could be piped in to receive our degrees. Marching in, past our friends and family, hoods draped over our arms to be hooded by the faculty during the ceremony, grins as wide as you can imagine. We witnessed an honorary degree being conferred on an artist/teacher nearing the twilight of his career. He spoke of challenges and memories from his time in the field, in a way reminding many of us why we have decided to make teaching out career. Then it was time to be hooded and received into the faculty of education. Watching the section before us was just a prelude, I couldn't stop smiling. As a section we decided to out cheer the other sections. The first grad from our section and the rest of us that followed, it was fun watching the reactions of our professors as we cheered our section on. I asked our prof who was reading out our names if she had expected anything less of her J/I 2's, and smiling she said that she would expect nothing less. The sections that followed tried to out cheer us, and while at time they may have cheered louder for a specific person but in terms of consistency we were definitely the loudest. We lined up in groups of 10 or so, according to our last names, and after our name was read we marched across the stage where the Dean would take the hood and drape it around our shoulders, signalling our official entrance to the faculty. It was kinda a fun moment, they try their best to slip on the hood, smile for pictures with you as you make small talk on the stage. Then you move down the line to shake hands with everyone (Dean, president, the honorary degree recipient etc), pausing with each to allow the parents to snap their photos, and make your way off stage to head back to your seat. Mom was up taking pics of it all but as she was struggling a bit with my camera, kinda cute to watch.
Then came the waiting part, as in waiting for the end. The J/I division is a big one, 7 sections, and when you account for the number of graduates, and the number of people we have to shake hands with, it takes a while and like the adolescents we will teach we got restless. While the majority of us were at least half paying attention to the other sections, watching for friends, a few people went to pick up their actual degrees from the holding room, some went to Tim Horton's, while others snuck cookies from the reception hall. It was such a party atmosphere. The last guy to get hooded received a huge cheer from all the sections (everyone was glad to see the final graduate). Then came the last of the speeches, including the valedictorian who had a ton of inside jokes (that we all got but our parents didn't)