Graduation Season

June 13, 2006

Sunday afternoon I attended this island's high school commencement. We had no children or grandchildren graduating, but we always try to be at graduation because it is such a touching, small town, "Norman Rockwell" kind of event, and because Hubby works at our regional high school.

The ceremony is held in the Tabernacle, a round, roofed, open-air space surrounded by the island's signature gingerbread cottages (see my earlier blog entry about Martha's Vineyard). After a week of rain and fog, Sunday was a gloriously sunny day. Roses and irises were blooming and the swallows which roost in the eaves of the cast iron structure were swooping around. Two hundred graduates filed in to "Pomp and Circumstance" - the girls in white cap and gown, the boys in purple. The traditional speeches were short and amusing; there were a few stunts like the kid with the back of his gown tucked into the waistband of a Speedo and the beachballs being lofted from graduate to graduate during the ceremony. The atmosphere was lighthearted and a bit wistful.

In addition to the usual National Honor Society members and sports heroes, some other memorable graduates were several immigrants from Brazil and another from Bulgaria, a young lady whose father was killed in a motorcycle accident last fall, a young man who moved here three years ago from NYC and said his only good memories were made on the island, and the daughter of a crack addict who managed to make the honor roll all this year. One girl crossed the platform holding her 2 month old child. Some of the loudest applause was when students from the special needs class received their diplomas.

Scholarships were given to honor a recent grad who drowned and two who should have graduated with this class but were killed in a rollover accident. Local organizations from the fire departments to the Rotary Club awarded almost a million dollars in scholarships. Graduates need that money here because, contrary to popular opinion, we are not all millionaires on this island. Most of us are ordinary workers.

Some of our kids will go to college, some will stay here on the island; some will enter the military and some will backpack in Thailand. All of them are loved.

The day was a reminder of how great it is to live in a small community.