TCC Graduation

The culmination of High School at TCC works something like this. On one day at the end of May, after all their final exams and most of their Caribbean Examinations, all of the Seniors, or Fourth Formers, anxiously await the posting of "the List." The list includes all the names of those students who will be graduating. I have never experienced soo much anticipation and so much worry regarding a list. Since the beginning of the week students have been questioning and wondering if i know of the list, if i can find out how to see it, if i can look for their name, if i know how many failed, if i know how many passed. Soo many questions, so many worries. And of course i was not allowed to tell them anything at all about the contents of wan said list. (wow the kriole is really coming out on this entry). I heard so many sob stories, so many pleas, at one point i thought a girl was going to cry she wanted to know so badly. This is to topper. This morning as i groggily walked down my front stairs to get some bananas and oranges at the market, mind you this was at 6:45 in the morning, some of my students were passing my house and asked if i knew about the list. WHAT!!! i had literally woken up 10 minuets before, i hadn't even changed out of my pajamas and they were asking about "the list"!!

We'll today at aprox. 11:30 the list went up, and let me tell you it was amazing!! Only 8 out of the 200ish students didn't graduate and so there was a lot to celebrate and a lot of people to celebrate with. Forth Form students were hovering all morning and as the principal came out of his office they all bum rushed the bulletin board to see if their names was on the coveted list. If it was there were screams and tears of joy, if not it was mostly just some tears. After the initial celebratory cheers everyone begins to sign their name upon their fellow graduates, some mark up each others uniform while others come prepared with a white tee shirt. After weeks of worry and anticipation they finally know they have the answers they've been looking for.

So many experiences I've had this year have brought me back to High School. But none as strong as this one. While I'm not too sure how i feel about publicly posting the graduation list for all to see, because those students who do not make it are publicly embarrassed. Seeing the faces of those who did was amazing. The sheer joy, happiness, relief, and in some cases surprise was actually heart warming. It's something i often times wished i had in High School; a culmination of all the work i had done, one defining moment, where i could scream and say YES! the last full day of school wasn't really anything because you still have review, the last class wasn't really the end because you still had exams, even the last final exam was anti climactic because you were usually alone as you left the test. I guess the one thing i could relate it to is the tossing of the hats at graduation, that last fleeting moment as the Class of "whatever" with the people you grew up with.

Well enough with reminiscing. For me i think this also signifies a moment of importance, as students asked me to sign their shirts and told me thanks and gave me hugs i realized that i was a part of their final year at TCC. Students who i hadn't really had that much face time with came up to me with huge smiles and markers asking me to sign their shirts. It was one of the first moment at TCC that i actually felt like i belonged, connected, like i maybe had some impact or affect on their lives. It was a good feeling. one I wasn't expecting. One i can hopefully carry with me to next year.

Congrats to all graduates all over the world!