Jill Plus Two!: Amelia's High School Graduation 2022!

An absolutely crazy month was finished with an absolutely crazy week, which ended in an absolutely INSANELY crazy day! Amelia's graduation will definitely be one she (and everyone else) will remember forever! It started out as a beautiful, sunny, warm day. Cooper and I went to school, and Amelia went to graduation practice. My family started arriving about 4pm, and we left for the stadium about 4:30pm. It was a good thing we did, because it was PACKED. Amelia told me it was the largest graduating class Madison had ever had, with around 400 students graduating! We found good seats and sat down to wait. As the class of 2022 started walking in, we noticed some clouds moving in from the south. Not many people seemed concerned, so the ceremony went on. As it progressed and the wind picked up, many of the speakers cut their talks short to try and save time. The clouds rolled in as they began to call the names of the graduates. By the time Amelia stepped up (she was only number 18 or so) the winds had reached gusts of 40 miles and hour and it had started sprinkling. They called her name (pronouncing it wrong completely) and she was literally blown across the stage to accept her diploma. Her hat had already blown off and she was clutching it under her arm, as were most of her classmates.

After a few more names, the rain began coming down and people started bailing out of the stands. The principal interrupted the ceremony and told all seniors to grab their things and head to the gym. Everybody ran for cover. The rain was coming down sideways by this point, and the overall weather resembled a Stage 4 hurricane. We sprinted in to the gym and took the first seats available, which were filling up fast. The graduates were standing on the gym floor as the administration began setting up the microphones and diplomas to try and get graduation back on track.

Half an hour later, graduations started over. The seniors that had already been given their diplomas walked again, so Amelia was fortunate enough to graduation twice. 😂 It was a crazy situation, but I never heard any graduate complain. In fact, they made the best of it laughing and dancing. After the ceremony, (which the pronounced Amelia's name correctly) Cooper and I struggled to find her in the sea of red. We finally got home, then she left for the all night party shortly after that. I'm so, so, so so, proud of Amelia and all she's accomplished in her 18 years. She is such a kind, loving, fun, happy young women and I'm so excited to see what she will do with her life after high school. Her immediate plans are to work all summer then attend BYU-Idaho in the fall. She'll be studying Environmental Geoscience and be living on campus due to her many scholarships and grants. Here's some pictures and videos:

These are the pictures from the first graduation, or as we like to call it "The Calm Before the Storm".

Here's the video of Amelia's first graduation:

While they were still setting things up, the whole class did one last "Numa" dance together. This is a dance they would do at every assembly or at random times throughout the year. This was such a fun class and I'm so grateful Amelia was part of it. They, for the most part, were upbeat, happy, fun-loving kids. I'll try to post this video, but it's pretty large.

The graduating class of 2022.....sitting on the floor. 😂