On Wednesday was my last day of high school… ever. I still have to write my exams but I never have to go to a day of school again. Dont ask me if I feel any different because so far I don’t. I think this is because right now I just feel like I am on holiday and I still have to be on the school property again so it wasn’t final goodbyes. The day does symbolise a lot however. It means that this part of m life is over. The part of my life where I am a child, where responsibility is cushioned and I’ve lived in a bubble is all over. Many people have asked me whether I am scared for the future and I have to admit I am not. I am nervous, nervous that I mess up but I am also excited because I get to fix it. Things I do, I really will do. No mommy to help me, no school looking over my shoulders and nobody waiting with a pillow incase I fall. I get to truly create my own destiny and I am so excited!
To celebrate our rather large step in to adulthood we had Valedictory on Wednesday. This is a chance for us to commemorate the last 12 years of school and the time we have spent together as a grade. It is there to say thank you to our parents and teachers for putting up with us well we navigated high school and it is there for us to say goodbye to our class mates. It is weird feeling, one I can’t quite comprehend because I have known some of these girls since I was three years old. Many of them have been with me for most of my life and it feels strange to think that some I wont ever see again. I find myself looking at my grade and thinking in only a few years time some of us will have jobs, some might be married and a few might even have children. We are 18, a couple of days ago we were in uniform groaning because we had to go to a science class but now we are adults and with that comes everything else adult and that is the part that makes me nervous. But even this is hard to logically get a hold of, on Wednesday night most of us were more concerned with what would the best way to celebrate this new freedom.
The Valedictory consisted of a service in our school chapel (St Mary’s is an Anglican private girls school so one must allow it this event) where our Chaplin blessed our future and said goodbye. This we attended in our uniform but as soon as we got out we got to get changed into cocktail dresses and high heels. We changed at school and in the changing rooms one could have found a row of girls in varying degrees of clothing all with make up brushes to their faces leaning close to the mirror, most with the mouths open in concentration as they applied mascara and swapped make up tips. From there we made our way to the Wanderers club where one of the dinning rooms was decorated in the school colours of red and white and the loud din of over excited girls and confused parents could be heard. I say confused because I believe that all the parents there couldn’t quite believe there darling angels were finishing high school.
The night was filled with speeches and thank-yous. We were advised on how to go about our futures, and prayed for and a couple of teaches made fun of some of the parents and students commemorating achievements like, being late for school the most or being in sick bay the most or writing the longest emails. we laughed and shouted and had a good time and some even cried. We had been gifted a year book where we each got a page with our baby photo, current photo and answers about what and where we wanted to be in the future. We also each got a bear. A plain white bear with a red St Mary’s ribbon. It came with a marker and we spent the night swapping bears and writing messages so that by the end of the evening the bear was more black squiggles than white.
I really enjoyed the evening. Nobody was fighting and nobody was being rude because I think we all wanted to leave each other on a good note.
My high school world is one I am glad to be leaving but it is also one that I will never forget. Thank you to everyone who made it so special because I did enjoy it despite my various rants. I was privileged enough to have family and friends that were there for me through the really horrendous times and the absolutely incredible ones. Now I am looking forward to the next stage of my life.
Plain Old Glasses 