School obituary, round two...

In the coming week there are sure to be many school obituaries written for those schools that will usher their students to the doors, onto buses, etc. for the last time. North Bay had a story posted over the weekend regarding the pending conversion of Centennial, and English-track school which is becoming a French immersion school in the fall. As such, its last graduating class hit the prom, the last the school in its current form would hold-- particularly since its K-5s are moving to other schools and its Grade 7 and ups are moving to high school in the board's first 7-12 facility.

"I guess we kind of feel cheated," Anna (Mroczkowski, Grade 7) said. I am excited to go over to Chippewa (high school) this year, but I think we're going to miss things that Grade 8 students are supposed to experience because we're already attending a high school."

It's unfortunate she feels this way-- the school should have celebrated all its graduates who were moving on to high school in the fall, and prom should have been for Grade 6, 7 and 8 students instead of the traditional outing just for Grade 8s.
There's no reason why some of these Grade 8 grad traditions cannot follow the younger students to their new schools either. Only those obsessed with tradition and unwilling to adapt to change will continue to think they're "missing out" on anything at all.