Walking Over the "Bridge" from Middle School to High School

June 21, 2014

Walking Over the "Bridge" from Middle School to High School

Thursday was a big day in the Holmes household. We attended the first ever Barrington Middle School 8th grade Bridge Ceremony. It was a dress up event and I know I'm biased but Emma looked beautiful in her new pink dress which was a just bold enough color for her, but not too bold. I loved the style too -- again grown up but not too grown up. She paired it with comfy nude patent leather flats that would be easy to wear and dance in at the 8th grade Dinner Dance to be held after the ceremony. Also not pictured is a bow in her hair that I bought way back in 1986 on a trip to Paris when I was studying in Regensburg, Germany. So glad I saved it all these years because Emma loves it.

Emma ready for the evening's events

The ceremony was held in the Gym at the High School. All the parents sat in the bleachers on both sides and the 8th graders walked in in alphabetical order and sat in the middle. I was pleasantly surprised to see and hear the 7th grade band playing as we waited for the 8th graders and while they walked in. There were really good! It was also fun to see so many of our friends kids playing in the band. There was even an order of events for the ceremony.

Program for the Ceremony

The 8th graders all walked up individually to receive their going away remembrance. This was their name in a large font and individual sentences and words that friends and classmates had written about them. Apparently they did this on computers in their connect/counseling groups and within their cluster groups (three clusters for each grade -- about 100 kids in each group -- they only rotate classes within these smaller groups). An amazing amount of work must have gone into making these, getting the input, formatting them and framing them -- each one totally unique and different for each of the 280 some 8th graders. I realize you can't read the writing on Emma's but here's what it looked like.

When the students walked up they all brought a flower to contribute to a huge class bouquet. Jim thought this was an odd idea, but at the end he said it did indeed look pretty neat. I enjoyed seeing all of the kids -- boys included -- all dressed up. I also got to see a lot of kids who'd been in Emma's classes in past years. After the ceremony all the kids headed off to the cafeteria that had been decorated (thanks to parent volunteers) in a old fashioned Hollywood theme including stars hanging from the ceiling -- one for every student with their name on it!! I saw other parents tearing up, but oddly enough I didn't. Yes, I am am bit sorry that she's growing up, but I'm also excited about the next stage on her journey.

The dinner was catered and paid for by the $10 ticket and then parents volunteered to bring in desserts (I brought brownies) and drinks. I'm just really impressed by how much time, effort and thought was put into this and am so thankful for the great teachers, and parent volunteers.