Approximately 6.4 years, 2,340 days, 15,537.6 hours, and 932,256 minutes is the total time, from kindergarten to senior year, that students spend at school. As the year is about to come to a close and the class of 2025 is leaving, many different elementary and middle schools are hosting graduation walks (grad walks) for the current high school seniors. These “graduation walks” are a common tradition done by many schools across the U.S. usually occurring a few days before graduation. In these grad walks, high school seniors revisit their past elementary and middle schools, dressed in caps and gowns. The seniors who once walked as elementary and middle school students now get a chance to visit their past. Seniors from different high schools, who were separated at elementary or middle school, have the opportunity to reunite. For the seniors, grad walks are more than just revisiting an old school, it’s a reflection of their journey and early memories.
From playing tetherball during recess in elementary school to field days in middle school to finally graduating, these seniors have come a long way. Days of playing tag in dusty fields and afternoons getting boba and walking around downtown are far beyond seniors. Friendships of years are being split by space, but their bonds remain. Senior year leaves everyone with questions. Did I do enough? Does it matter? Will it pay off? All questions unremarkable to kids whose biggest worry was what was for lunch. The hallways of old schools might go unremembered, but nostalgia remains. For seniors, grad walks are a sense of achievement, for younger students it is a look into the future, and for teachers, it is an emotional reunion. If anything, grad walks aren’t a showcase of the end of high school but rather a showcase of the new lives these seniors will live moving forward.
For the version of the seniors still playing on the playgrounds as little kids wondering what their future will look like in 8 years, coming to old schools is like coming home. As these seniors prepare to graduate, the class of 5th graders prepares to move up to middle school and middle schoolers begin to see the doors of high school. Saying goodbye is a hard thing. Whether you’re still in high school next year, are a senior and can’t wait to leave, or are going to college, moving on is inevitable. Graduation walks are not only a reminder of our past but also a showcase of just how far the senior class has come. We hope as they see the halls they once walked, they feel proud; of what they’ve done, the mark they’ve made, what they will do, and their futures, once so unfathomable.
