Practice Rehearsal, and Final days of regular classes

Today last block was a rehersal for grads. We were practicing our entrance, our standing, sitting, and walking across the stage for the cereamony. Grade 11's don't laugh, your going to have to do it next year too, and because your class is smaller than ares could chance you'll have to run through it twice.

I have to admit though sitting there was pretty boring and it was only rehearsal. We didn't even go through the all the grads when we practiced walking the stage, it was only a row and half! There about 280 Grads this year, and to think if I got bored watching the first row and half, well lets just say this is going to be one lonnnnggg ceremony. I'm pretty sure Mr.Campbell had wishfull thinking when he said we'd only be about 2 and half hours. I'll be really surprised if it's that short...

On another note, Final day of Regular classes is said to be wensday, but really tuesday is when classes are still normal, wensday is just a mandatory day. Then it's off to exams and then Valdicotry and we're done! It's coming to end so quickly. One thing I have to say grade 11's is you may say you won't miss high school now, but come grade 12 and Grad creeps closer you won't want to leave. I'm missing it already, and I haven't left yet.

Savour your moments together because grade 12 passes fast and pretty soon you'll wish you had more time.

Practice Makes Perfect and slowing down

We have finally come down to the winding end of the year. Come Monday there is a rehearsal of the valedictory ceremony which all grads must attend. It so we all don't like idiots trying to find out seat at the actual ceremony. Though I predict there will be somebody still looking for their seat come the actual day.

Last day of regular classes is next week and I can't believe how fast these last few months have gone. I still thought we had a week left. There are still things to do before next week however, such as final exams, assignments to be handed in, and many other assignments. On a random note there was a sad attempt at a food fight at lunch today. 2 kids came above the rotunda threw who knows what and yelled food fight. But that was it. Nothing really happened, except that I observed that our principal is a rather quick runner.. I wonder if he actually caught the people.

Dinner, Dancing, and bouncy castles?

The post about dinner dance and dry grad is finally here! So I have to say it was AMAZING! I can say that grade 11's who are turning grade 12's next year you won't be dissapointed. So starting us off we all met at school taking pictures, greeting friends. Then soon it was time to walk the red carpet. Lucky for us it stopped raining for our pictures, but I swear you would think the sun was shining from all the bright smiles. I was surprised at the lack of insanely poofy dresses. I think we had a total of 3. Just a note for girls that will be in grade 12 next year. Poofy dresses may look pretty but are a pain the butt to dance in and to sit on chair with.

Next we loaded up the buses and headed to the hotel. The ballroom we were in was beautiful. The food was amazing, if you get a chance you should ask Ms.Chen about the chocolate mouse. I unfortunatley didn't get the chance try it, but I heard it was really good. My suggestion to you is as soon as you get dinner go over to the desert table too. Our night was filled dancing and mingling. Before the dancing began however speechs were made. One was from the girls to the boys, boys to the girls, teachers to students, students to teachers, and of course our wise Principal had a few words to say.

Soon our dinner dance had come to an end and we had to load back into our buses to get back to school for our much anticipated dry grad. We arrived at school and walked thought the front doors. We walked in and there was a celeb theme going on, where it be music or movies you name it it was there. Vinal Records hung around some place and stuck to walls. We were giving a white teeshirt and a sharpie marker to have our grads sign shirts. One wing had a casino filled with games,and some sort of bungee thing.. The B wing had a karokee box, pingpong and other games. Now the rotunda was quite the sight to see. We had this bouncy castle thing and a velcro wall. What's better than seeing your fellow grads throw themselves to a wall and get stuck?

There was lots of food, music, place to sit and hang with everyone. There was even a spot where we could get airbrushed tatoos. Some people won prizes from raffle and at the end of the night every grad got a McMath Grad towel. It's blue and white with the words McMath 2010.

It was a great night, and one I'm sure everyone will remember. To the grade 11's I have to say this is a worthwhile event, even if your not into dancing or it's not your thing, you'll forever want to remember this event as it's the last time you'll see your fellow grads altogether..

To the McMath Class of 2010!

2 days- Pack a bag and Wish for Sun.

So it's the day before dry grad and for those who want to be comfortable and not in their formal wear for dry grad are being insisted upon to pack a bag of change of clothes are drop them off at school today, or early tomorrow, as changes of clothes won't be accepted when all grads arrive at school tomorrow afternoon.

Packing a change of clothes for this event is a little difficult only because I think most of us don't know what to expect. We don't know if there is a theme, we don't know any specifics of any kinda except for time. So there is a lot of talking about who's wearing what. As I said in my previous blog post, I was thinking of shorts and top..In my opinion quite logical, as with nearly 300 Grads in one place its bound to get rather hot and stuffy. But that could change with the current weather.

I hope and I'm sure the rest of my fellow grad class do as well, that we want the sun shining tomorrow. I prefer not to take pictures in the rain or by some mistake get my outfit dirty due mud or dirty leaves that happen to blow by and decide to stick to me. Not good! Though this being said, I'd be pretty happy as long as the ground dries up and there is no rain. That's the best thing we can wish for as we do live in Vancouver and have had some really crazy weather so far this year.

3 Days - Cross your utensils and put your napkin on your chair!

3 days until dinner/dance and dry grad. Today in my Human Services class we learned proper table manners, how to use our utensils properly, and how to properly place a napkin on your lap. For your information I am not joking.. One useful thing I did learn though is how to keep waiters from stealing your plate if your not done with it yet. Apparently you cross your utensil ( ex. Knife and Fork, depends which utensils you are using) and leave your napkin in your chair. This tells the servers that you are not finished and plan to come back and finish. So fellow grads make a note if you don't want your plate taken before your done eating be sure to CROSS YOUR UTENSILS OVER YOUR PLATE AND PUT YOUR NAPKIN IN YOUR CHAIR! :p

The excitement is high as dinner dance approaches, many are trying to think of what to wear to dry grad.. I almost considered my PJs but settled for shorts and a top instead. There was a slight delay in notice about the Bus's our transportation to our events, but luckily all was sorted out and I can say that all grads will be going to our events with out any problems.

I'm happy to announce that despite my own medical issues, I will be happily attending this final grad event ( next to walking the stage of course). I must admit I was a little afriad I would be unable to attend. But as long as I take it easy, I should be alright. ( Take it easy at grad? HA HA right..)

Including today, 4 days till Dinner/Dance and Dry Grad

I apologize for it being so long, I have some issues to deal with. Its four days until dinner/dance and dry grad. I’m excited, and I know most of my fellow grads are pretty excited for the big event. Its going to be a long and busy day for mostly the girls I think, We need to get up early and get out hair, nails, and make up done. Now most people may think that it doesn’t take very long for the prep stuff girls go though, and sometimes it doesn’t. But if you have long hair I can tell you it can take up to 2 hours if not more to get your hair done, depending on what you are doing with it. The grads in the mail got a schedule in the mail as to give us an idea when and what is happening. It goes like this :

Around 4:45 -5:15 we have time where we can meet up with our friends and family to take pictures. Also if you had Mrs. G Simonson, this would probably be a great time to take a picture with her repainted paws, I would totally do this, except my dress is mostly white....
Next is the gathering of the Grads, I’m not really sure what that entails.
After that from 5:30 – 6 is the class of 2010 walking the red carpet
Then we load the buses and we’re off to the Fairmount Hotel in Vancouver
At 7 – 7:30 we get to chat and mingle with everyone
7:30 – 11: 15 it’s dinner time and time to party
Once the time for dancing is over we head back to school at around Midnight and continue to hang out and part till the party ends at 5am.

Something tells me , most of us are going to be having several cups of coffee to keep us awake and going all night long.

Graduation Transitions ( AKA. A Pain in every Grads Butt)

This year and for the past few years Grads of B.C. have had to do these “ Portfolios” in order to graduate. Over the years the name of the program has changed and each schools does theirs differently but no matter how different it is or how many times they change the program or give it a different name it is still a pain in every Grads butt.

At my school we call it Graduation Transitions. We have these Binders and we have 3 main sections, Personal health, Community Connections, and Career and Life. We get a booklet that has assignments that go into each section, as well we have to collect evidence and have reflections/ explanations for each piece of evidence. After all evidence and assignments have been collected and finished we get them checked off by the teacher in charge of the program and come May we have to be present these binders in a “ Interview” with another teacher at the school during our selected time. We can also add sections to our binder like Sports, Academics, Hobbies, and etc. Also in order to graduate we need to have done 30 hours of work/ volunteer experience. Even though I found that doing this binder was a complete waste of time, it was kind of satisfying to see how much evidence I had to go into it when all was said and done.

I think that when we do these binders you don’t really know how much you actual have done, or you think you don’t have anything to put in there. But by the time your finished you can actually see all the stuff you’ve done, your plans, and your goals. Piece of advice for next years Grads and grads to come DO NOT LEAVE THIS TO THE LAST MINUTE! You will regret trying to scramble around to get all your assignments done.