One Girl, Two Coasts: Documenting "the End": Part Four

Saturday was one of the best days ever. Graduation was finally here. I got up, did a few errands, spent upwards of three hours decorating my graduation cap, and went out with my parents for lunch at a Korean restaurant, since we didn't think to make reservations for dinner. We try to eat light for dinner so lunch suits us even better, actually.

At four o'clock, Kerry and I drove to the high school, where we met all of our other about-to-be graduates in the lobby. We took a bunch of photos, of course, and then were lined up for the ceremony. I was in a three-person row although there are usually only pairs that walk together. However, since I was the last person in our class in terms of alphabetical order, there was one extra seat next to me that didn't match up, so Ivan Truong didn't have a partner. Thus, they thought three would be better than a pair and then a single.

After inching slowly forward towards the turf, we walked down the steps of the building and out to the field, where chairs were set up for us and the bleachers were already packed with people. A light processional music was playing from the orchestra, and I tried very hard throughout the entire thing to keep my cap on properly (it was way too big for my head and didn't fit right, even after my mom sewed a large part of it together) and succeeded for most of the ceremony until I shook everyone's hands after receiving my diploma and it fell off. What can you do...

We listened to all of the speeches as the blazing hot sun beat down on us. I was feeling very thirsty, but still extremely happy and blissful. Our class president and my good friend Mia Natale spoke, we had the salutatorian and valedictorian (Mark Schoen and Steven Homberg) speak, our principal Brian Callaghan made some wonderfully insightful remarks as well, and I think the Westborough superintendent Marianne O'Connor also spoke.

We also had an entire listing of scholarships given out to students, which took a very large chunk of time and left everyone very bored and antsy. No matter which angle you look at it, going through each person's scholarships in a random order (when over half the class has received some sort of scholarship) is really just a bad idea. It took forever.

Then, the part we were really waiting for: receiving those diplomas! Our row, of course, waited until the very end, and it was so exciting to finally hear my name called. Sure, my cap fell off while I was walking back to my seat, and sure, I must have looked like an idiot. But it was still a great moment and I was so happy.

Afterwards, we all walked towards the end of the field, and threw our caps in the air together in the traditional, high school manner. We made itttt!!!!

Then, all of the parents and family members and friends and teachers crowded onto the field to congratulate us and take more photos, naturally. It was hard to find my parents, but when I did, we met a lot of friends and family and happily said hello. What a surreal moment, to reach this day with all of my friends that I'd met in the first days of my freshman year.

We went home after many more hugs and photos and whatnot, and I uploaded photos, took a quick nap, and changed before heading out again for Project Grad! It was going to be at Teamworks and the theme of the night would be "Boston, You're My Home". My parents had helped out earlier that day with set-up and they claimed that it would be suuuuper awesome. I didn't doubt it!

I picked up Kerry and off we went for the night. We got there around 10:30 pm and it was incredible...the decorations were amazing and so well-done. They had made little areas that were labeled as different places in Boston, like Fenway, the top of the Hub, Quincy Market, etc. The food options were incredible and included JP's wings, mini Regatta sandwiches, bread and dip from Not Your Average Joe's, pasta, pizza, fruit, cookies, an ice cream sundae bar, all sorts of drinks, chips and salsa, and much much more.

Our senior posters were hung downstairs around one of the soccer fields, and we were able to check stuff in and receive this huge Rangers bag (that will be very handy for laundry soon in college) to put it all in. Our baby photos were also hung up, with our senior photos underneath them.

There was a photo booth area, karaoke, soccer, VOLLEYBALL, games, airbrush tattoos, mini golf, and an entire area with moon bounces, hamster balls, and inflatable fun. One of the best activities was called Wrecking Ball, and it was this construction zone-themed inflatable game where a wrecking ball was centered between four large platforms. You had to balance on the platform and try to stay standing while other people flung the ball at you. Easier said than done, but it was a superb game.

One of my fave parts of the night was playing volleyball with my senior girls after such a long time. We played against a bunch of jocks and won (duh..), and it was crazy to think that this would likely be the very last time the twelve of us would stand on a court together to whoop some ass.

We also had Dan Candell come around 3:45. He was the hypnotist that did the Hypnotist show in the winter time, and much to our disappointment, did basically the SAME show this time around, just with a different group of seniors. It was pretty redundant and boring, so we were all pretty unhappy with that.

Other than that, I'd say the night was awesome and super fun. It was really the last time we'd all hang out as a class, and I thought it was the perfect way to end things. They wouldn't let us out until 5 am, so we actually waited for 10 minutes in the lobby (cramped and beginning to feel the exhaustion) until we could leave. They handed out bagged breakfasts (donuts, bagels, etc.) and I drove us (me and Kerry) home. Whew. What a crazy few hours.