Wuse Heights

GRADUATION 🎓

The talks about graduation began way before we commenced our exams, in fact it was as early as the third term of year two. Several issues were raised, we got into so many arguments some of which ended in a near fight situation. The build up to grad was really rough, it was difficult getting the soon to be graduates to
cooperate in the planning phase. Our budget was over #400,000 and by the time the exams were almost coming to an end we couldn't even boast of having #200,000, it seemed like we weren't interested in the graduation. Seeing how the senior students responded, we decided to take the matter to the school management. We had several meetings with them but none of those meetings favoured us, the school seemingly had things of greater priority than sponsoring our graduation. We were practically hopeless.
Graduation was only a few weeks away and the only thing that was being done was the yearbook, meanwhile we had awards to give, the hall to decorate, snacks, food and drinks for that day, a project to execute and so many other things lined up. Even though we had already began work on the yearbook, there was very little money to continue whilst trying to raise money for the several other things on our list. Most people stopped coming to school just to avoid being disturbed to pay for grad. It was all so frustrating.
As the saying goes "two good heads are better than one" or in our case "many good heads are better than few". The planning committee had ran out of ideas on how to raise money for the grad but luck smiled on us when during one of our discussions Kemi walked in, she brought an idea that changed the entire fate of the graduation plans. She made a suggestion that the clearance forms be withheld until payment of the grad fee. We had to get cleared before we could access our testimonials. Without delay we swung into action with the new plan and met the staff in charge of issuing out the forms, he agreed with the plan and before we knew what was happening, money began coming in and the graduation was given renewed hope. Payments were made everyday all in a bid to get the form.
With the money now available, we could finally begin to put other plans into action. Our Head Girl worked extremely hard to ensure everything was in order, she kept track of everything that happened. The food, snacks and drinks negotiations, the graduation cake, the awards to be presented to some outstanding teachers and the school heads were all properly handled by her.  The immense strength and courage she exhibited was out of this world. So many things seemed to be going wrong but Clara still believed. She was always there to encourage and to guide. Hold on! Did I just mention Clara? O yes I did, she was our Head Girl and an excellent one too. The grad preparation had so many twists, very funny and frustrating twists.
As the graduation date turned from months to weeks to days, we ensured everything was placed in order. Our project was done and dusted, the food, snacks and drinks contract signed, the yearbook printed, the awards made and bought as the case was. Things suddenly became smooth but still tension was really high, extremely high in fact. The only thing left undone was the hall decorations which was to take place on the eve of the grad, that was the day we had our last play in highschool. We had to clear the hall of the tables, chairs and desks that were used for the exams and then sweep before proceeding to do the decorations. A few of us were around for the clean up, we made cleaning fun. We rode the desks and did some stunts whilst pushing them out to rearrange on the pavement. We ran wild, made noise, climbed on each others back and twirled round the hall. One of us, a very muscular guy decided to test his strength by daring us to climb him, of course we did, more than 5 of us, each jumping on the other but this guy still stood, well for a while cause we all came crashing down and laughing as we did. Gradually the play died down as we all began to feel very tired, worn out and hungry from an entire day of nonstop work.
The decorator had promised us to be in school by 3pm but when the time reached there was no sign of him, it clocked 4pm and still no sign of him yet we hoped even as our number reduced, at 5pm he hadn't come. Just when all hell was about to break loose he showed up. The real work began, we clothed the chairs and covered the tables after which we arranged to meet our taste. We were there for hours arranging with a lot still left to be done before the hall could be checked off the list. Our bones ached, eyes dimmed and hunger became our companion yet we still had to continue, we left for home that day at 9pm, a story many of the graduating students never heard of.
We slept that night, some of us not so peacefully and woke up to the dawn of our graduation morning, O the joy! The grad was to begin at 11am but some of us went to school before then to put finishing touches. Clara was one of the first persons there that morning, she personally handled the packaging of the drinks and snacks while also running around to get her speech ready, a very stressful day it was. Just when we thought the worst was over another problem came up, the arrival of the yearbook was delayed. After futile attempts were made to reach the person who was supposed to bring them,  we decided to put a call through to the printer who informed us that the books had been collected as early as 7O'clock that morning. It was almost 10am yet no sight of the yearbook but we kept on calling until he finally arrived at past 10 with some silly excuses, a big sigh of relief was let out.
All the running around came to an end and the moment we had all been waiting for was now a reality. We lined up with the principal, the Head Boy and the Head Girl in front and danced into the hall with smiles beaming on everyone's face. The joy and excitement of that day was second to none, one by one we danced to our seats with our names tagged on the table. The national anthem was  sung followed by the school's anthem then the graduation was officially started. Guest were introduced, an opening remark from the chairman, a little chatter by the host after which the Head Girl presented her speech immediately followed by the Head Boy who poured countless praises on the best Head Girl in the world, for being a strong pillar to him and being one of very few reasons his tenure was judged to be one of the best in the school's history. Goodwill messages and words of advice were showered on us by several people, familiar and unfamiliar. Awards were given first by the school to us and then for the first time in the history of Wuse Heights by us to the school. We celebrated the two teachers who supported us half way into the journey, Mr Ali and Mrs Smith, the noise made over them was incredible. We celebrated the school's principal as well as the vice principals with awards of excellence. We made history and stamped our names boldly on the history books of Wuse Heights as the most unique set to grace the purple and white colour of her uniform.
After all was said and done, it was time to dance and party bringing to an awesome end of a glorious era

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Edet 😎🎇