School Pictures: Part 1

September 8, 2022

Today is National School Picture Day and also Throwback Thursday.

Here are my high school graduation photos. Photos, you ask? Yes. I actually have TWO high school diplomas. I graduated from high school TWICE from TWO different schools in TWO different states, therefore I have TWO high school graduation photos that appear in my TWO respective yearbooks.

I graduated from West Islip High School in West Islip, Long Island, New York, in 1979 at age 18 (first photo). Yes, my mother wasn't happy with my hairstyle; she wanted me to get a haircut for the photo, but I thought my longer hair would look better, and it was how I wanted my classmates to remember me.

Then, in 1980 at age 19, I graduated as a PG (post-graduate student) from Northfield Mount Hermon School, a prep school in northern Massachusetts. PGs were considered part of the senior class even though we had already graduated from other high schools.

I can explain why my hair looks strange in that second photo. After I emerged from taking a shower in my dormitory, a friend asked me if I had my yearbook photo taken yet. I said no. He told me that the photo session was ending in 10 minutes, and if I didn't get there, I would not appear in the yearbook. With my long hair still wet, I frantically got into my suit and tie. I ran down the steep snowy hill, slipping and sliding from my dormitory (Wilson Hall) to a nearby boys' dormitory (East Hall), where the photos were being taken. It was the dead of winter and very cold. By the time I arrived, my hair was frozen. It thawed before this photo was taken, but I just wasn't able to make my hair look good.