Campbell Hall Baccalaureate 2019

The baccalaureate is a service inherited from the universities of Western Europe and associated with the commencement exercises of American colleges, universities, and words secondary schools since colonial times. The term baccalaureate is derived from two latin words "bacca" and "Laurens", which refer to wreaths of berries and laurel worn by new graduates in the medieval period of Europe. The baccalaureate service remains to this day an integral part of the commencement exercises of many American colleges, universities and secondary schools and celebrates their historic and religious origins.

The gym was hot as we filed in and took our seats in the bleachers. Amy scored good seats for us right in front (or behind) the center aisle and I was able to take a cute picture of Claire as she came in with her class. Apologies for my surreptitious, blurry photos....

It got hotter as we sang the school hymn, saw several musical and dance performances by graduating seniors and a homily by the school chaplain. Although it is an Episcopal school, at least a quarter of the students are Jewish so it was  a fairly nondenominational service. Blessedly, it was also pretty short as the temperature was rising.

We emerged into a wall of heat and the smell of smoke. Luncheon was served family style at beautifully set tables and much speculation over lunch over the possible sources of smoke. I never found out whether it was a "brush fire" or a "homeless man burning leaves", but it definitely wasn't a barbecue ,as we had cold roasted chicken and several kinds of salad.  It was too hot to eat much and we didn't linger for mini cream puffs and macarons, although I think I did spot OilMan stuffing a couple of macarons into his pocket for the short trip home. The thermometer in the car said it was 90ºF (32ºC) outside. Matt commented that this could very well be the last time in seven years that he would be turning into that driveway.... 

Once home again with the air conditioning on high, we all subsided with the dogs onto the couch with the air conditioning on high*