Did you have a middle-school (or Jr. High) graduation?

[Skippy918]

I remember going to Jahns in Brooklyn with classmates after an event at my high school.

I had one back when they were called JHS in NYC, and if you called it intermediate or middle school, you were pegged as a Long Islander, or maybe even a Jerseyite, LOL.

No cap and gown (thank goodness. I’ve issues with them in the lower grades) but all girls in white dresses and boys wearing ties during the graduation assembly.
Most parents took their children to Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlor for a kitchen sink; the better-to-do took them to the Hawaii Kai on Broadway for dinner (also where most everyone’s Sweet Sixteen took place). It was the first summer in 6 or 7 years there was no reading list or “What did you do for your summer” essay and the graduates made the best of it not knowing what the years to come would bring.

My dad’s friend actually finished the kitchen sink.

 

[Elle23]

Nope. And no kindergarten one either! (Sorry, but kindergarten graduations are the dumbest thing ever, in my ever so humble opinion.)

I think there should be one graduation when it’s all done after 12th grade. Too many “graduations” just cheapens the real one, in my yet again ever so humble opinion.

 

[fab1976]

I've got an 8th grader this year, and I keep hearing so much angst about how it's so awful that they can't have the "traditional" middle-school graduation due to the pandemic. My question at this point, Is that really traditional? One of my older kids had one, but it was the first I'd ever heard of; I certainly didn't have one, and DH didn't either.

(Full disclosure, the district I was in at that age had a strange way of grouping grades. We had "Jr. High", which was 7th, 8th, and 9th grade together at that school, so there really was no change after 8th grade. However, we didn't have any kind of special ceremony or celebration at the end of 9th, either, we just relocated to the high school building and quietly slunk on into sophomore year.)

Yes I had a middle school grad. Ceremony followed by reception and then my friends and I went out for our first adult meal in a restaurant with no parents with us. That was 1990 or so. My son is also in grade 8 now and I’m sad for him he won’t get the pomp and circumstances. A lot of his classmates aren’t going to the same school as him either, so they won’t get to say good bye. We are currently remote learning in the Toronto area, not likely to go back before school ends.

 

[design_mom]

I went to Catholic school (grades 1-8) and we had a graduation ceremony. No caps and gowns -- boys wore suits, girls wore white dresses. The class was split between several high schools -- public school, the co-ed Catholic high school, the all-boys Catholic high-school -- so it was the last time we'd all be together.

My kids attended the local public middle school (grades 6-8) and they had an 8th grade graduation, too.

Theirs also didn't involve cap/gown/diploma with pomp and circumstance, etc. The day started off with a class breakfast for the 8th graders. Parents gathered in the gym. The 8th grade "graduates" came in dressed in nice clothes (not the usual t-shirts and basketball shorts). The principal gave a speech about what a great class they were and how she knew they'd go on to great things. The 8th grade choir sang a song, the 8th grade band played, etc. It was a nice ending to the year and was called a "graduation" but it wasn't in any way equivalent to a high school graduation.

Elementary school ends in 5th grade and they have what they call a "clap out" at the elementary schools. On the last day of school, the teachers and younger students line the hallways as the 5th graders parade through the halls one last time and are released from school first. The kids really look forward to their turn to be "clapped out."

 

[NYCgrrl]

I remember going to Jahns in Brooklyn with classmates after an event at my high school.

Good times!
The one in the Bronx was on Kingsbridge Rd, off Fordham Rd, just down the street from Alexander’s, which helped us to know we were “uptown” as opposed to Brooklynites, who called Fulton Street, downtown .

I think the kitchen sink cost around $6.00 and it was a stretch in the days when you got a cone from Carvel’s for 50 cents.

 

[bcla]

None.

 

[HopperFan]

I didn't even go to middle school. Elementary was 1-7 and we had a graduation. Then high school was 8-12. The district now has middle school and K in with elementary.

My kids went to middle schools and there was no graduation.

 

[disneychrista]

Yes. Both my daughters also had a middle school graduation. All the same school. No caps and gown.
My sister graduated from Jr High before we moved and I think she had a graduation as well but honestly 37 years later who remembers.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I graduated from 7th grade at my school in Georgia because in our district we went from elementary school to high school. There was no middle school. Then I moved back to Ohio in 8th grade and graduated again from middle school.

 

[tvguy]

My first graduation was High School.
30 years later my kids had Kindergarten, Fifth Grade (their elementary school went to Grade 5), 8th grade and High School graduation.

 

[unrequited23]

We had a combo awards/graduation ceremony in 8th grade. It was in the evening, families attended and the students dressed up, but no cap and gowns.

 

[Cheburashka]

I've got an 8th grader this year, and I keep hearing so much angst about how it's so awful that they can't have the "traditional" middle-school graduation due to the pandemic. My question at this point, Is that really traditional? One of my older kids had one, but it was the first I'd ever heard of; I certainly didn't have one, and DH didn't either.

(Full disclosure, the district I was in at that age had a strange way of grouping grades. We had "Jr. High", which was 7th, 8th, and 9th grade together at that school, so there really was no change after 8th grade. However, we didn't have any kind of special ceremony or celebration at the end of 9th, either, we just relocated to the high school building and quietly slunk on into sophomore year.)

No, I'm middle-aged and I didn't. I think this varies by school. I knew someone else at the time from a different school who did have one. It certainly wasn't universal, though.

My son had an 8th grade graduation a few years ago, but it was a PK-8 private school with no related high school, so it really was a big move to complete that portion of his education and transition to a completely different high school, so I'm glad there was a ceremony.

 

[martikus]

I did. We rented out a theater and walked across a stage. Despite the pomp and circumstance I don’t remember anything big deal about it. We were just excited to be going to high school. My husband can’t remember if he did.

Here the parents are up in arms about how the ceremony will be virtual. I feel like I’m missing something. I’m ecstatic to not have to take a day off work to sit through 1-2 hours where my
Kid is 1.2 seconds of that time.

 

[antmaril]

Nope. I graduated high school in 1969. I’m old.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Yes, we had a Jr. High graduation. I didn't get to go as I broke my ankle.

 

[Meriweather]

Yes, I did. Dance and everything. That was ages and ages ago.
It was a 6-8 grade school

 

[AndreaA]

Yup - no cap and gown, but ceremony, walking across the stage, etc.. That was way back in 1986.

 

[chickapin parterre]

Nope. And no kindergarten one either! (Sorry, but kindergarten graduations are the dumbest thing ever, in my ever so humble opinion.)

I think there should be one graduation when it’s all done after 12th grade. Too many “graduations” just cheapens the real one, in my yet again ever so humble opinion.

.....nope...I was long gone before they started giving out participation trophies

 

[luvnwdwgal]

No

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

No, I'm middle-aged and I didn't. I think this varies by school. I knew someone else at the time from a different school who did have one. It certainly wasn't universal, though.

My son had an 8th grade graduation a few years ago, but it was a PK-8 private school with no related high school, so it really was a big move to complete that portion of his education and transition to a completely different high school, so I'm glad there was a ceremony.

The situation your son was in is pretty common for most kids. They promote when they're leaving the school campus for good. So my son will promote from 6th grade this year (they're doing a drive through which I mentioned above) and then go into a Jr. High that merges all of the elementary schools on the east side of town. That is a huge change. Similar situation to when they promote from Jr. High - the high school is a completely separate school on the other end of town.

I don't understand promotion ceremonies when they aren't physically leaving a campus for good though.