With the rite of passage of receiving a diploma either coming up or having taken place in cities all across the country, this time of year I often think of the single moment that trumps all others in my memory bank.
What comes to mind when you think of the year 2001? Chances are you'll remember it for what happened that Tuesday morning in Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and in surburban Pennsylvania. It perhaps represented the worst of times in our lives. In my mind, however, the best of times took place three months earlier on a Saturday morning in June at Milpitas High School, my hometown high school. On this warm summer day, me and 562 other people lived the one day that binded all of us for the rest of our lives. Graduating high school (and the 40 weeks worth of senior year that precedes it) is something that, except in rare instances, happens only once in our lives. I was fortunate enough to live out the day-long experience of taking part in the time-honored tradition of graduation with people I've known as far back as elementary school, and celebrating it afterwards with my family and cousins.
Unlike all other big days in my life, the prelude to the biggest of them all was atypical for me, just like the other grads. Even though I had anticipated June 16, 2001 since I saw my cousins Jeff and Jenny go through this graduation routine a year earlier, I took part in only one event leading up to Graduation Day: a Senior picnic before Memorial Day weekend. Other than that, I didn't take part in any other pre-Graduation function (including Grad Night at Disneyland) just because I didn't want to have the whole graduation jitters get the best of me until I turned in my last Final Exam. In that sense - as I tend to be a bit more traditional than most of my friends in my inner circle, I put the important matters of school first, then it would be time to seep in the celebration and Graduation Day, which that year took place on Father's Day weekend, adding an additional incentive to the importance of the biggest day (and weekend) in my life. Once the final month of school rolled around, I began to eagerly count down the days until that big Saturday. And once I got out of my final class at school and waited for our graduation practice, that was where I realized that I was about to get into the most exciting and defining 24 hours of my life.
Graduation Day 2001 began with the typical scene of my annoying alarm clock going off at 6:30am. Despite that, I woke up with a strong sense of anticipation and an upbeat energy that would carry with me throughout the day. As per tradition among my family and cousins, my mom and dad put leis covered with candy and pennies around my neck to go along with the Gold Cord Milpitas High awarded me for maintaining a consistently high GPA throughout my four years (at 3.25 or something along the lines of that). At just about 8:15am, my mom drove me to MHS so I would get ready for the commencement ceremony (yes it's the official title). When I got there, I saw and chatted with many of my fellow grads who were in a great mood like me. When we got to the staging area located behind the P.E. locker rooms, that would be where it would finally sink in to me that this was going to be my finest hour. It was now only a matter of time for (what I would refer to) "The Greatest Show on Earth" to get started.
The biggest two hours in the lives of me and over 560 other young adults began right on the dot at 10am when we began walking from the holding area in the back of the school towards the football stadium. As you might expect for an event of this magnitude, I felt perhaps the ultimate goose bumps of my entire life. When I walked down the ramp leading to the field, three of my five senses rung true to me: 1. the huge sight of the families, friends and well-wishers of the grads; 2. the sound of "Pomp and Circumstance" blaring out on the loudspeakers, and 3. the smell & warmth of California's early Summer air of mid-June despite taking place on a Saturday morning. When we walked through two lines of faculty applauding us when we got to our seats, I felt very proud for what I've gone through not just in four years in high school, but the eight preceding years in elementary and junior high that preceded my Freshman year of 1997-98. The commencement ceremony, like the typical one, had its usual components (national anthem, Alma Mater), but was mixed in with a strong, energenic atmosphere, especially for us, people of Generation-Y (and the official first class of the new millennium). After speeches from Jermaine, Manisha, an past alum of the school and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by a classmate in my sophomore year art class named Melvin - who would have his life tragically cut short three years later at a lake in Merced, the climatic moment that I and everyone else had anticipated for 12 months finally arrived.
As my fellow grads and I seated in the back row stood up and walked towards the platform as the first graduation line to get their diplomas, the same exact chills I had walking from the back of the school to the seating area came back to haunt me. However, those chills would go away in only a matter of seconds once the person who stood in front of me walked up the ramp. Once my name got called out, I shouted "What's Up?!" two times to the crowd as I walked up to receive my diploma and got handshakes from the Principal, school officials and the Mayor. Once I got back to my seat, I got call-outs and fives from some of my friends. And since I was one of the very first names read out, I just then sat back for the rest of the time, even relaxing my feet on a chair a couple times. While seeing all the grads go through that same exact routine I did, I also played the spotting game and saw my dad & relatives directly across from me. After every one of the 563 names were called out, I stood up on top of my chair as we were directed to turn our tassels, and it was time for the celebratory side of me to take over. Literally seconds after the ceremony ended and after many of the graduation caps were thrown in the air, I immediately made my way towards where my mom, dad and family were located. They gave me those standard hugs, handshakes and congrats, as Vitamin C's "Graduation (Friends Forever)" played in the back. Likewise, I did the same to any classmates I knew that I spotted in the crowded atmosphere. Then, I sprinted to the gym to pick up my graduation certificate, official proof that I had completed all four years to receive my diploma (yes the actual diploma).
The aftermath of my finest hour had all sorts of emotion, as well as a party. First off, it was surrealistic and a bit sorrow in the way that Graduation Day would be the last time each and every one of all 570 of us would be together at the same place and the same time (at least for a while until I discovered this little thing called social networking). For the handful of people that I've known since elementary school, this marked the closing chapter of a long journey that started twelve years earlier cross-town in elementary school, right as the decade of the 90's beaconed. For others that I became friends and classmates with as time went on as I went to two other schools, then junior high and then at MHS, Graduation Day would be one more opportunity for us to hang out before we go our separate ways on into a new world. On the other side of the spectrum, I felt very relieved that all the pressures I had and any difficulties I encounted in my four years at MHS & 12 school years overall was finally forgotten. After talking to some friends one last time, my sister Marjorie and I drove back to my house for my graduation party (only for VIP i.e. my relatives and their friends). Guests at that party gave me over $400 worth of graduation gift money, as well as some gift certificates. I remember a few times during that party, I just sat alone in my room and reflect on what had just happened. By the time all the guests left after 1am, I felt a little bit sad because I wanted the whole Graduation day experience to continue until I decided to call it a night, even though all of this took place during Saturday of Father's Day weekend.
In closing, I was very proud and stoked to live out the one moment I had anticipated for not just all of those four years in high school, but all of the dozen years I have been attending school here in our great town known as Milpitas. For an entire day, I felt like the number one person on earth because I was the focus of my family the entire day, as if I was famous. It might've began with a simple, annoying wakeup alarm, but on this atypical but special day, it was a day that was all about celebrating what I had done my entire life and marking the so-called "end of one chapter and the beginning of another," as some girl from a reality TV show likes to put it. The highlight of this, of course, was getting my diploma and getting recognized one more time by people I've known for much of my life in this town we call home. I will always remember 2001 not for its low point on September 11th, but for the high point all 562 of us lived out together in the California sun on that Saturday morning in mid-June. And even if meeting my favorite band was a big moment, it would still not be as bigger as the moment that took place five years ago today: Graduating High School.
- DC
