Valedictory Dinner: On the inside
This NewsDiary, many of the Arlington and Blackhall/Kalimna happenings were all rolled into one as they worked together for the Valedictory Dinner.
The graduation dinner for our VCE students was held on on Friday, October 23, just prior to the start of exams the following Friday. The dinner is the last act of the last day at school for VCE students which, by any standards, is a big one starting with a champagne breakfast followed later by a presentation and review of individual DVDs painstakingly prepared over a period of years by the media ‘crew’ at Blackhall/Kalimna and representing a collage of each student’s time at Preshil. With emotions already aroused, the students go home to dress and come to their last event at the school as students.
In the past parents have not traditionally participated in the event. however this year they were invited to attend pre dinner drinks. Other students do not get to attend the dinner until it is their time, it has remained a little mysterious arousing the curiosity of many who have heard of what happens and what is said. So for those of you who were wondering, here is a peek inside.
The day climaxed in the evening as the heat of the day slowly dissipated and parents of those graduating joined staff and students for pre-dinner cocktails outside the Kevin Borland Hall. When dinner time came, parents bid adieu as the Hall was opened to students and staff to reveal the result of the week long preparation by the Arlington students representing the conjoint celebration of the event across the school. As people entered they were overcome by the display around the room: white covered dinner tables adorned by centre pieces designed and made by the 8s and 9s, placemats created by the 6s and 7s using a range of art techniques and an enormous paper chain made by the 5s which formed the colourful chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
The climax, however, was the extensive display covering the walls and floor of the Hall, designed and created by the guardians of the valedictory dinner, the 10s and 11s. Each year it is their responsibility to determine the theme of the evening in celebration of the rite of passage of both the VCE students and themselves as children entering into their adolescent years. In acknowledgement of this passing from young childhood into their senior years, each group of 10s and 11s design and create a curtain that hangs in the Hall for most of the year (you may have seen the current one) except for the valedictory dinner when the curtain made by the current VCE group, when they were in the 10s and 11s, is rehung for the night.
In determining the theme for the evening, the process is one of extensive discussion and debate. This year, the final vote heralded ‘Oscar Night’ in symbolic representation of the achievements of the VCE students. The Hall was accordingly taken over for the week as the older curtain was unfolded and hung and the Hall decorated behind closed doors to keep the theme secret. The secret was unveiled as attendees were transported into Hollywood for the night. As they entered the Hall they emerged inside from a painted limousine surrounded on either side by sunglassed security guards (looking surprisingly like the Blues Brothers) and watched by thronging crowds of inert but colourfully adorned spectators. As they found their way to their seats along the red carpeted floor, the paper audience looked on from the walls’ depths.
Behind the curtains, unbeknownst to the participants, lay the result of the final part of the ritual of the night’s preparation. This ritual has its beginnings early on in the term whereby each of the VCE students visits Arlington to be interviewed by one of the children in the 10s and 11s. From that interview an understanding is developed that drives the creation of a hand crafted gift by the younger student to the one departing on their life’s journey. The deep sensitivity of the 10s and 11s to their VCE friend showed a maturity that belied their years as evidenced by the tears and looks of amazement on the faces of each of the VCE students as they read the attached note and unwrapped their gift at the conclusion of the evening.
The emotions of the night were not constrained however to this. After being invited to partake of our dinner meal, the rituals of the night continued with the black top hat traditionally worn at the valedictory dinner being passed around the audience inviting the students to share their experiences and memories of their time at Preshil. True to the Preshil approach, no-one is required to talk but the opportunity is always given. As each student took the black hat, a recurring message took shape amidst phrases which spoke of ‘thanks for allowing me to be me’, ‘I was allowed to be myself’, that unlike other places where you were ‘not cool enough’, or ‘not something enough’ that Preshil was a place where you were always accepted and allowed to have fun and how this made learning that much more enjoyable. A number of students reflected on how the school had helped them find out who they were and the confidence that they now had for moving forward in their lives. They shared their sense of the school and its teachers as family where the teachers really cared and where they saw them as true friends in life with whom they would always share a bond.
For those who had come from other schools, their appreciation was intense as the contrast was so great and their fight to be themselves so hard. For those who had been here from early in their childhood, their appreciation was no less but their stories perhaps a little less dramatic as they had not seemingly had to experience not being enough at school, instead just always knowing that they were and are OK. For them this seemed to just be the way it has been, is and should be. Many of us would no doubt agree that they are right!