JOIN USA last hurrah!
It was an emotional evening at Bishop Cotton Boys’ School, as the high school graduation ceremony for the class of 2012 was held on the school premises.
The field was thronging with teary-eyed parents, teachers, and of course students, who were smartly decked in jackets and ties. It was a life-changing moment for the 480 students who were graduating, from all the sections in classes ten and 12.
The chief guest of the ceremony was G K Pillai, the former home secretary of India and also an ex-Cottonian. The other guests of honour included Anita Gale, a space scientist; Heather L Paul, who is a part of the Johnson Space Center in the USA; and Jim Christensen, the president of the Aerospace Engineering Competition Corporation in the USA. The presiding dignitary was Reverend S Vasanthakumar, a bishop at the Church of South India.
The event began with a few hymns sung by the choir of the school, which included both faculty and students, after which Rev Daniel Ravikumar led the crowd in the opening prayer. Then, the students of the graduating batch took the stage. As each student appeared, a screen put up at the venue flashed his name as well as a small note about his achievements in the school.
The batch was led by the school captain, Rudra Gopinath, followed by the head of day scholars, Rahul C Choudary and the head of boarders, Appaya K C. Soon after, the respective house captains — Aditya Surekha, Aditya Prasad, Niteesh Sood, Tejas V Rai and Manoj Jacob Dhinagar followed. The deputy head, chapel prefect, sports, music and cultural captains were next.
After this, the entire batch of standards ten and 12 appeared as well. There were plenty of cheers and applause from the parents, as they caught sight of their sons graduating. The Cottonians then sang the school song, to which the entire audience stood up with respect.
Special awards were distributed to some of the high achievers, which included Rudra Gopinath, Udhav Chandal, Issac John, Ayush Mittal and Kheerthi Sudhakar Vasishta. Suriyawut Kulatee and Aditya Varna Iyer won the trophies for best senior and junior prefect respectively.
Speeches were also made by some of the students, including Rishikesh R Kulkarni and Rudra Gopinath, who spoke about the years they spent in the school and everything they had gotten out of it. A valedictory address was also made by the chief guest, G K Pillai and the a few hymns were sung to mark the occasion.
DHNS