M-A Graduation: Your Story

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Written by Haley McCabe

The class of 2010 bid farewell to Menlo-Atherton last Thursday, June 3. Graduation means something different to everyone; some students were the first in their in their families to finish high school, while for others, graduation is part of the family norm. Share your graduation stories and pictures by sending them to mabearnews@gmail.com, you may see them published on this website!

Chloe Peters, who will be attending UCLA, shares her graduation story.

My diploma group started preparing for graduation over a month before the actual day. We all knew one another and could be considered casual acquaintances, but weren’t great friends. But during the interval between the Giants game we saw together (with Ms. Kleeman, of course!) in May and that warm afternoon on June 3rd, those casual acquaintances turned into genuine friendships. Days before graduation, Taylor had already picked out candy to bring, Ms. Kleeman baked us fresh cookies, Claire packed a deck of cards, and I bought a new Squeeze Breeze; as we planned, we shared our nervous excitement about college, our summer plans, and some of our favorite memories from our time at MA. Graduation day came quickly, and for the hour we spent sitting in the hot, stuffy gym before marching out to the field, my Squeeze Breeze made me the most popular person in school; we passed it around the bleachers, giving both close friends and those seniors I still had never met a brief respite from the heat. The ceremony itself flew by, even Mr. Zito’s speech, which was surprisingly touching. All too soon we were standing in line to receive our diplomas, shaking Ms. Kleeman’s hand, and sitting back down in our white chairs. It did take a while to hand out all the diplomas, and we may have played a game or two of Go Fish! to pass the time, but then it was over, our tassels had been turned, our caps thrown and retrieved, and everyone was madly scrambling to find friends and family, the experienced ones having pre-arranged a meeting spot on the field. Much of the day is a blur, but it was more emotional than I expected. It was a bittersweet ending; I had four years to get to know the kids in my diploma group, but it was only in the last month that I saw what amazing people they are, and I would have liked to have had the time to build deeper friendships with all of them. So to Taylor, Claire, Carl, Megan, Chris, Tom, and Sophia , thanks for making graduation more special than I could ever have hoped.