Dark Blue Togas

This is my narrative essay entry for my journal in Communication 1 class. I didn't have any other thing in my mind to write about other than this. This day is just too special to forget. 

P.S. This is a narrative essay derived from an anti-chronological essay. This explains why I started my narration from the last part and ended the essay during the first part of my story. Nevertheless, I loved writing this. Didn't even seem like work. I hope you enjoy reading as well. :) 

A smile forms in my face when I hear thundering applauses as I take big steps up the stage. I shake hands with the big bosses in the university as I receive my diploma and awards. I squint as the spotlight turns to the stage, and hardly seeing anyone because of the light, I beamed at the audience and took a bow.

What a beautiful sight it was seeing all of my batch mates next to me feeling so accomplished wearing their dark blue togas and graduation caps signaling our high school graduation ceremonies. We all took our place on stage to sing our 3-day-practiced graduation song not minding the fact that only a few of us memorized the song. With head held high we started on with serenading the audience.

Tears were then shed, as we sang to the chorus of “Do I Make You Proud” by Taylor Hicks. As I look around, only then have I realized how that would be the last time I will stand up in front of those people in an institution I had the privilege to have been with for  a decade of my existence. My mentors, the administration, and the parents’ reaction as we went near them to place kisses on their cheeks and enclose them in warm hugs were beyond priceless. Silence ensued around the gymnasium as only sounds of sniffs and coughs were heard around.

After all our puffy eyes, pink noses, and huge smiles were captured through the posterity pictures, we then marched in a straight line away from the stage much like resembling concretely our exit from our alma mater.  The atmosphere went immediately emotional and another thundering applause dedicated for us, graduates, had ensued with proud faces all on us.

What a giddy feeling I had that very day, the day when all the burdens of high school life have been lifted in the most beautiful way. Before this very momentous occasion in our secondary life had come about, many were then on the verge of anxiousness as the final list of graduates were not yet posted in that bulletin board near the admin office. Final exams had been finished and the only thing left to do was for the deliberation of who would march down that aisle in the gymnasium.

We got the chance to breathe and de-stress on the first few weeks of March. It was a happy thought going to school without the sight of math equations on the blackboard, having to prepare or even cram for a quiz in physics, and having to practice for a stage play in English. These last few weeks were made available for us to share our last days and cherish our last moments, still frequently fretful of knowing if one could graduate or not.

For four consecutive days we had gone to each of our classmates’ homes to maximize our times together and to make use of the remaining days. Boisterous laughter would be heard in each home visit, and a lot of secrets shared as the sun went down. Those nights had been truly embedded in each of our hearts and will serve as one of the best times we had been able to be a part of.

Graduation practices had officially started and all of us felt that this was really it. Even if our practices were so time consuming and we did nothing but go over the program, during each cycle of practice, all of us disregarded the fact that it was just a rehearsal. Each of us owned the moment we had on stage, frequently gazing at empty seats where our parents would sit on that special day and flashing our best smiles towards that direction.

The sound of each of our name being announced one by one over the microphone heard in speakers around the gym to practice receiving each of our diplomas had us feeling nostalgic. Thoughts of all my all-nighters, all the times I ran out of ideas, all the times I failed in tasks, all the times I had piled up home works and assignments, all the times I had not finished studying for an exam, and all the times I had failed to believe that I can do it—thoughts of all of these dawned on me all of a sudden. And through those thoughts I had known the true reason for commencement exercises. It is one way to give honor to that one special tree that remains standing despite the chaos of the storm, and this special tree represents the graduates.

At last, the night of all the nights had come. With sweaty palms and anxious faces we waited for the announcements of the list of graduates. “For this school year 2014-2015, fourth year students of both section A and B are going to graduate.” That was it. That one sentence we had all been wanting to hear ever since we stepped foot in high school. We all jumped from our seats screaming—even squealing at the top of our lungs, clapping hands and hugging each other.

Even before all of this had come about, on the first day of senior year we had been tasked to make classroom rules. The best one yet was rule number 17. That rule stated that we must all, under any circumstance, graduate together. Due to the nature of being teenagers, one for disregarding rules, sucker for taking risks and just seizing the moment of liberty, rules were very much overlooked. Yet it was such a blissful thought on the day of the graduation as I was about to put on my dark blue toga and place my cap on my head, looking at the mirror, only then have I realized that there was always this one rule we never had broken. The fulfillment of rule number 17 left me smiling at my own reflection at the mirror and before another tear would fall down my face, I headed to school to take part in one of the best days of my life.