OCR Text |
Show Graduate Recalls Gaity, First Days in School As I reached for the rolled paper, tears came to my eyes. My heart beat rapidly, and my knees felt wobbly and weak. This was one of the most important days of my life for I was graduating from high school. I had completed twelve years of studying and now I must leave that carefree life to go into the world to seek my fortune. It was no wonder my hand trembled as it touched the crisp, new paper. My mind flashed back to my first school days and the gaity that filled them. I coughed slightly slight-ly as I remembered the grade school where I had supposedly suffered suf-fered the woes of an essential education. edu-cation. I remembered the library where I had satisfied my careless reading needs, and the playground where I had played jump-the-rope and baseball. I smiled slightly as I recalled the secret club, "The Black Cameo," to which-1 was an established member. I remembered remember-ed how I had been thrilled and felt like a woman-of-the-world when I wore the club ring for the first time. And then came junior high school, where so many pleasant happenings took place. I had felt so big when I walked through the doors into what seemed a gigantic building. My training there had seemed unnecessarily hard then, but I now realized that many important im-portant habits were formed there. I remembered the crushes I had on the boys and matinee dances that were spread through the years. My heart warmed as I thought of the teachers who had been so understanding under-standing when I did something that wasn't just right. Yes, those were happy days, but my happiest days were those I spent at South. My mind recalled all the fun and work I had. I was glad I went to school. I thought of the people I'd met and the teachers I'd had and my heart almost al-most burst with feeling and pride. And I remembered when I was a junior, when the seniors were gone, I'd felt lost. I wondered if this year's juniors would feel the same toward me. I hoped they would, for I knew I would miss them so much and wonder about them. Then suddenly, my mind returned return-ed to the present, and I felt the diploma in my hand, new and strange. I looked around and saw my friends whom I would leave and perhaps never see again. But I realized that I would make new friends and find new interests. I would look back on my school days years later with joy and grat-titude grat-titude toward those who had made them possible. And I squared my shoulders as I gazed at new horizons that were all the years of my life! I |