Promotion Ceremonies

Last night was the 8^th grade promotion ceremony, and it was one of the last times I'll be at PGMS or see my friends in 7^th grade for quite a while. For the past few days in school, we had been rehearsing the ceremony for a couple of hours a day. I was wearing basically the same thing as my band uniform, but with a red shirt instead of white.

Mr. Bell, the principal, told us all to arrive at 5:30 so we would have time to get ready, but we actually ended up waiting for about 45 minutes in line in front of Room 13, the home-ec room. Cody Lee stood next to me and was singing Europe's The Final Countdown for almost the whole time. After a hugely long wait, we started walking out to the front of the school. Mr. Gamble gave us carnations to hold during the ceremony.

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The "promotion ensemble", consisting of 6^th and 7^th grade band and orchestra members, began playing a fanfare followed by the classic Pomp and Circumstance. We began walking down the aisles and took seats on the stage. Ally Campion, our student-body president, announced that Cindy Chu and Hsinyi Shen would be playing a piano duet, Rondo á La Turk. Lindsey Morin, who I have known since 6^th grade gave a speech entitled Moving up the Ladder and four members of our chorus, Sean McKeon, Jackie Choi, Jane Rudy, and Mariah Cosgrove sang Seasons of Love. James Thomas gave a speech entitled Don't Walk Alone and the section closed with Aaron Shi's piano solo of Numb, which I thought he played really well.

After the performances were over, Ms. Riedel began reading off names. At the name Matthew Johnson my row was instructed to get up and went off to the stage-left wing. At the name Cody Lee who was right in front of me I went up to a piece of blue tape on the stage to wait, and then I was called up. Mr. Bell shook my hand and the superintendent gave me a blank piece of paper saying Diploma of Promotion.

After everyone had received their blank pieces of paper, we threw our carnations out into the audience and processed back down the aisle while the ensemble was playing Rites of Tamburo. After saying hi to Ms. Priest, Tijmen, Yann, and assorted parents, I went over to the gym for the dance.

The first song was a slow song that we danced with our parents, who were then instructed to leave so, as the flier said, the party could begin. Other than the really annoying hip-hop and rap music, it was quite fun and went by really quickly. There was a food table with really good chips and salsa, pizza, and sushi. At the end, Michael's dad dropped me off at my house around 10:00.