They came, on their last day of school, “the soldier”, “the civilian”, armed with oversized colorful guns for the water fight, and with an effervescent enthusiasm for the battle of “life after school”! The 12th graders’ attitude and attire showed that they were eager to embrace life, “to go to the edge of the Earth”…especially that a select troupe was in their ranks. The first grade 12 from ETD, since the outbreak of war in Lebanon, was ready to take up arms, to withstand hardships just as their school had done throughout its 175 years of history. The proud graduates of ETD had shined in school on more than one occasion. Hence, they were confident that their willingness could make all their wishes come true…but one: the ETD Elites sadly realized they would never “be younger and take the time to appreciate every moment”…
During the short- lived truce in the auditorium, our “seniors” projected short clips and pictures of the unforgettable moments they had spent at school- special, silly, and stunning. They had taken shots of heartfelt hugs, fiery fights, willful work, feared failures, and applauded achievements. It seemed that, despite the limited capacity of the CDs, the SE and the GLS sections had tried to squeeze every instance of their unique journey at school onto them, “every minute they wanted to grab and not let slip away”. The overloaded disks, naturally, stopped at times, as if to choke their swelling tears, just like every teacher and learner in the auditorium, that day. The HP section marketed their version of a school “Proto- Cool”. The guide featured valuable lessons for the younger ones, but, also, reminders for the adults who, with time, tend to “slide” less “swiftly down the rail”! The 12th graders did not forget to pay tribute to every teacher who had “stuck with them through thick and thin”.
More than a thousand words, the tears spoke of the graduates’ deep attachment to the schools which had cuddled them as youngsters, enriched them as children, and inspirited them as adolescents. However, soon after, they stopped “crying because it was over” and “smiled because it happened”; then, they marched to the Preschool playground for the water fight!
The learners soaked one another wet by every means they could come up with. They put on a wonderful show of water warfare, which fascinated the preschoolers watching them intently from afar. When their armies had withdrawn, reluctantly, it seemed that there was little left but some confetti on the seats of the Auditorium and puddles of water in the playground. In fact, there was much more: our endeared graduates have left lasting imprints in everybody’s minds, including those of the preschoolers destined to follow their footsteps in beating the drums of a changed future.
Rania Maghzal
IEN Outreach Unit Supervisor
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