They're growing up so fast
Jun. 19th, 2020 06:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olorielToday, in accordance with the prophecy, we released our tenth-graders into the wild. And by "the wild", I mean either vocational training or three more years of school, but it was still epic.
Actually, it wasn't. Usually, Certificate Day is a fairly spectacular event, and we tried our hardest, but it just wasn't the same. We got permission to use the church, provided that no more than 50 people were inside at any one time, and that after each class 10, we would wipe down and disinfect every surface that had ostensibly been touched. So the service/ceremony consisted of the students of each class (~28 not-quite-adults), and the last set of teachers that had taught them (~10 adults), and the principal, and the minister. (Religious minister, not political minister. We're a Lutheran school, which is why the minister is relevant.) The parents/guardians (one per student) were permitted into the marketplace in front of the church, where a projector and screen had been prepared to transmit what was going on in the church, with their positions marked on the cobblestones so they'd know how far apart 1.5 metres are. Mandatory facemasks. Strictly no singing because singing releases more aerosols. After the ceremony, five graduates at a time were permitted to exit the church, and five parents at a time were allowed to go around the church to join their kids, who were then - separately - presented with their graduation certificate. After that, they had to clear the space to make room for the next.
To make up for the absence of most teachers (who would normally have been present) and the involvement of graduates from all four classes in the ceremony (for readings, speeches, etc.), the class teachers had prepared four video clips. To make up for the lack of singing, one of the teachers played "Fly me to the moon" on the cello, one of the guys played "Applaus" on the guitar, and one of the girls played "My heart will go on" on the piano. Reader, I nearly cried. I was never one to bawl during "My heart will go on", but I certainly was emotionally compromised during this rendition. Part of it was the unnaturally quiet atmosphere of the whole event, and part of it is, well, the strange sadness of having taught some of these students (not all of them succesfully) and now seeing them go away. Gave me enough of a headache, but they were still part of my life! And I only met them when they were already in grade 9! Much tougher for the teachers who accompanied them all the way from grade 5 to 10, of course.
Some of the graduates had dressed up for the occasion, sometimes impressively and sometimes hilariously. (One girl and her mother were already running late for the service, and then they stopped in the entrance to the marketplace and we all thought "Huh? What's going on here?" Then the girl changed from the comfortable slippers she'd been wearing into stilettoes! Another girl was wearing a strange miniskirt/split robe combination that wouldn't have looked out of place on a very fashionable wicked witch. And one wore a cocktail dress in neon green. ?!?!)
I suppose it was the best that could be done under the circumstances. At least they did get a ceremony, even if it was a weirdly subdued one.
One more week of this strange term to go for the rest of us. How things are going to be after the summer holidays? Nobody has the slightest. Right now, the political intention is "back to normal". Will that be possible after everyone from everywhere has mingled during the vacations? I cannot say.
Actually, it wasn't. Usually, Certificate Day is a fairly spectacular event, and we tried our hardest, but it just wasn't the same. We got permission to use the church, provided that no more than 50 people were inside at any one time, and that after each class 10, we would wipe down and disinfect every surface that had ostensibly been touched. So the service/ceremony consisted of the students of each class (~28 not-quite-adults), and the last set of teachers that had taught them (~10 adults), and the principal, and the minister. (Religious minister, not political minister. We're a Lutheran school, which is why the minister is relevant.) The parents/guardians (one per student) were permitted into the marketplace in front of the church, where a projector and screen had been prepared to transmit what was going on in the church, with their positions marked on the cobblestones so they'd know how far apart 1.5 metres are. Mandatory facemasks. Strictly no singing because singing releases more aerosols. After the ceremony, five graduates at a time were permitted to exit the church, and five parents at a time were allowed to go around the church to join their kids, who were then - separately - presented with their graduation certificate. After that, they had to clear the space to make room for the next.
To make up for the absence of most teachers (who would normally have been present) and the involvement of graduates from all four classes in the ceremony (for readings, speeches, etc.), the class teachers had prepared four video clips. To make up for the lack of singing, one of the teachers played "Fly me to the moon" on the cello, one of the guys played "Applaus" on the guitar, and one of the girls played "My heart will go on" on the piano. Reader, I nearly cried. I was never one to bawl during "My heart will go on", but I certainly was emotionally compromised during this rendition. Part of it was the unnaturally quiet atmosphere of the whole event, and part of it is, well, the strange sadness of having taught some of these students (not all of them succesfully) and now seeing them go away. Gave me enough of a headache, but they were still part of my life! And I only met them when they were already in grade 9! Much tougher for the teachers who accompanied them all the way from grade 5 to 10, of course.
Some of the graduates had dressed up for the occasion, sometimes impressively and sometimes hilariously. (One girl and her mother were already running late for the service, and then they stopped in the entrance to the marketplace and we all thought "Huh? What's going on here?" Then the girl changed from the comfortable slippers she'd been wearing into stilettoes! Another girl was wearing a strange miniskirt/split robe combination that wouldn't have looked out of place on a very fashionable wicked witch. And one wore a cocktail dress in neon green. ?!?!)
I suppose it was the best that could be done under the circumstances. At least they did get a ceremony, even if it was a weirdly subdued one.
One more week of this strange term to go for the rest of us. How things are going to be after the summer holidays? Nobody has the slightest. Right now, the political intention is "back to normal". Will that be possible after everyone from everywhere has mingled during the vacations? I cannot say.
