NORFOLK — Graduation festivities came early for seniors at Norwood-Norfolk Central School.
On Monday morning, their last full day at school, they donned their green and gold graduation caps and gowns and paraded throughout all of the upper and lower level halls, starting in the elementary wing, then the middle school wing before returning to the high school wing.
Along the way, as “Pomp and Circumstance” played over the speakers like it will on graduation day, they were met with another sound — the applause of underclassmen and their teachers who had gathered in the halls to watch the parade, snap pictures, record video and share high-fives.
It was the second time the school’s seniors had taken part in the “Senior Walk.” The Class of 2016 began the tradition last year at the suggestion of Bethany Belmore, one of the Class of 2016 graduates. A Facebook posting by Van High School in Texas, talking about their first-ever Senior Walk went viral, and that prompted other schools to start their own tradition. Ms. Belmore had suggested Norwood-Norfolk follow suit, and now it’s become an annual end-of-year event.
Monday’s Senior Walk was an opportunity for teachers to see seniors they had watched progress through the grades to reach graduation this year. But it was also an opportunity for younger students to have something to look forward to at the end of their school career.
“The Senior Walk was inspirational for our younger students and affirming for our departing seniors. Our younger students, some who have never seen a graduation robe, are mesmerized by this occasion,” Superintendent James M. Cruikshank said.
Seeing the graduating seniors in their caps and gowns “allows them to dream of the day when they, too, will don the robes and enables them to begin setting their own goals for graduation,” he said.
Following the Senior Walk, the students took part in a beach day. And now it’s back to business as they return to school for their final exams. They’ll don their caps and gowns again on June 24, with a new audience watching, as they walk across the stage at Hosmer Hall, SUNY Potsdam, to receive their diplomas.