Tag Archives: graduation

Retro RFH Guys’ Summer Dive

Class of ’76 seniors dive into summer
Photo/RFH Yearbook 1976

The sun has had a hard time peering out from the dank weather veil these days. So, daydreaming about a simpler summer time when a dive into the ocean in Sea Bright was all you needed comes a lot easier than that ball of fire and the imminent need to cool down.

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Scene Around: Rumson School’s Out Clap-Out

School’s out in Rumson!

And while tradition dictates that Fair Haven’s eighth grade grads to the infamous walk down Third Street to much fanfare, Rumson students do what they call a “clap-out.” And it just happened very recently.

They’re leaving the hallowed halls of Forrestdale School and moving on to the next block at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School — most of the grads, anyway.

So, as they exit the school for the last time, the students do it to applause … and a bit of fanfare, like some drum beating. Some of the teachers also celebrated their last exit from the school. It’s anyone’s guess what was going on among students at this moment, but there are some amusing clues here.

Take a look at the photo gallery above, courtesy of the Rumson School District, for a glimpse into the milestone moment.

Retro Stylin’ Knollwood Grads

Knollwood School Class of 2002 Photo/Elaine Van Develde
Knollwood School Class of 2002
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

A reprise in honor of those eighth grade graduations … Congrats, grads!

The Fair Haven Knollwood School grads are styling every year. And, the truth is that the eighth grade graduation attire has improved to the point of even parents turning wannabes of that mini-fashion world.

You’d have to admit, though, that fad dress-up attire has been kinder to the male gender over the years — except for the leisure suit. That was an unforgiving polyester fashion fail.

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Retro RFH Graduation Daisy Chain

RFH 1978 graduation, replete with daisy chain Photo/Daryl Cooper Ley
RFH 1978 graduation, replete with daisy chain
Photo/Wanda Becker via Daryl Cooper Ley

The following was originally posted in May of 2017. It is being reprised in honor of the recent RFH graduation, traditions of the past and the RFH Daisy Chain girl featured who passed away in 2019 — Daryl Cooper Ley.

It was considered a privilege and honor. They were chosen from the junior class at RFH to serve as the debutante-like ushers for the graduating class. All dressed in white and supposedly gracefully toting a chain of daisies, the Daisy Chain girls were a fixture of high school finery at graduations in the 1970s.

The origins of the somewhat upper-crust tradition date back to the 1900s, but this Retro Pic of the Day was snapped in 1978.

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Retro RFH Grad Moments

It’s half past pandemic graduation time. The RFH Class of 2020 had its drive-by celebration last night. A virtual ceremony is to come and still more.

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Retro Forever Fair Haven Eighth Grade Friendship Snapshot

Knollwood Class of ’74 graduation fashionistas Stephanie DeSesa, Elaine Van Develde and Wanda Becker.
Photo/Sally Van Develde

Eighth graders in the Rumson-Fair Haven area are going through graduation rites of passage of a different kind right now — the COVID-19 pandemic era kind.

And what’s different about it is that there are no photos of friends clustered together, arms wrapped around one another or stiff shoulder-to-shoulder stances, signaling the end of a grade school era and beginnings. It’s definitely a missed moment or several this year.

Those ends and beginnings always involve childhood friends, some who stay with us throughout each milestone in our lives. They’re always there, if not in physical presence, in our hearts and on our minds. Those friends were markers in the milestones that are rooted in all that’s home. Our history.

So, while those friendship poses won’t be struck in the isolated pandemic Class of 2020 photos, the kinships inherent in them remain a hallmark of homegrown, hometown life.

Even if you were one of those kids that just didn’t like school all that much, the awkward, trying and exhilarating moments marked with those childhood friends are the ones that stay forever etched in minds and hearts. It’s the stuff that makes you who you are. The stuff that keeps you grounded, or up in the air — always home.

Those questionable fashion pics and fumbling adolescent moments also comprise great friendship blackmail material. Who else would have such epic fashion failure photos to go along with a string of clumsy, trouble-making memories up for grabs?

Your oldest friends. That’s who. And when the time comes to say your final goodbye, a standard eulogy by the most stable adult in the bunch just can’t compete with the memories of childhood, adolescence, teen years and adulthood and all of its ugliness, awkwardness and beauty with best friends.

Crews of grade school cronies, regardless of fashion or common sense, have something special — dating back to the beginning of graduating times.

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