Graduation Exercises
Baccalaureate Service
Commencement
The two programs that were our "rites of passage" were the Baccalaureate Service and Commencement.
The Baccalaureate Service in our day was a religious service in which a prominent member of the clergy exhorted us to greatness in the "baccalaureate sermon." My dictionary tells me that that has changed over the years, and now this program can be quite secular: the Baccalaureate Exercise in which the graduating seniors hear a "baccalaureate address." But we grew up in a day and time when prayer was still in schools and we had a good ol' Scripture reading by the Rev. N. Roscoe Griffin and our exhortation was given to us by the Rev. J. Ernest Sommerville of Birmingham. Two other ministers participated, and our Glee Club sang "God Is Love" and "Eternal Life," no doubt to the horror and permanent damage of those atheists among our class. (P.S.: I doubt that we had any atheists--check out Mr. Boley's advice!)
Incredibly, one of our classmates actually remembers a line from Rev. Sommerville's baccalaureate sermon: "In Birmingham, Alabama we use a little bit of skill and a whole lot of steel and make railroad irons, whereas, in Switzerland they use a little bit of steel and a whole lot of skill and make watch springs". He then challenged us to make a decision regarding the rest of our lives.
The Commencement was the conferring of degrees--what we all were waiting for. The Glee Club performed, Dr. Allen, Professor of History and Political Science at Florence State, spoke, and yet more awards were distributed before Mr. John R. Burt of the Sheffield City Schools Board of Education passed out diplomas to each of the 117 of us who marched across the stage--to the delight of our parents, brothers and sisters and friends.
Remember, the auditorium was small enough to require rationing seats to parents only?
Napkin from the Graduation Reception