Saturday, May 28, 2011

End of School

The last day of middle school came and passed. It was the last time I would come to my middle school for a while, possibly forever.

This day was dedicated to signing yearbooks and awards. For 6th and 7th grades, most of these awards were useless and arbitrary. But in 8th grade, there were real awards from not just the teachers, but from the school, county, as well as one from the president. In the 8th grade, there was a real ceremony, not just a small gathering in the students' homeroom teacher's room. All the parents were invited and the entire grade sat in the gym. They all waited in anticipation for the awards they would or would not receive.

First, the principal delivered the long and unnecessary introduction, in which she stated that she was very proud of us and that we were great students. Next, various clubs presented awards. The broadcast crew, the group that would put on the school's news each morning all received recognition. After that, the leaders of the green team, also known as the recycling club, received awards in the form of tacky, green birdhouses. This was followed by awards from my math teacher, who also happened to be the academic team coach. As a former member of the academic team, I was called to the front, where I received awards from all of the competitions I had attended or contributed to throughout the year. This included an elite math competition that  only a small group in my high school level math class qualified for. After receiving these awards, I returned to my seat. The second I sat down, I was called back to the stage for receiving a perfect score on the the end of course test that counted for 15 percent of my math grade. The ceremony went on to award a slew of other clubs for leadership, among other things. This was followed by awards for honor roll, super honor roll and the presidential award. For one to be in honor roll, he or she must have an average of a 90% or higher for the semester. For super honor roll, one must have a 95% average or higher. Then, there was the presidential award. To be qualified to receive this award, one requires an average of 90% or higher and a score in the 85th percentile on the designated standardized test. Hundreds of people received each of these awards. The ceremony continued to give more and more of these awards until it was over. Although so many awards had been given out, around 75% of the eighth grade population had received nothing. So, for most of the grade, the ceremony was a waste of time. Fortunately, I wasn't a part of the 75%.

The award ceremony finished after two hours. The grade went to eat lunch, one group at a time. Next, we were sent on a minimized schedule. We saw each of our teachers for about 15 to 20 minutes. Most teachers allowed their students to interact with each other and say goodbye. About one-fourth of the people would go to North High School. The rest would go to East High School. This meant that friends would be separated, never to see each other again. At the end of the day, I said goodbye to my teachers and friends, and walked away from middle school, to the next chapter of my life.

2 comments:

  1. Humorous, but honestly written narrative! A few grammatical errors, but good effort overall!

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  2. Ahahaha, North and East High schools... very true stuff, though.

    ReplyDelete