Graduation Abomination (Feb 4, 2009)

(posted to Facebook, February 4, 2009)






In titling this post, I went to dictionary.com by way of my
bookmark and looked up "abomination." Even if I have a
vague idea of what a word means, if it's something I don't
use very often, I like to make sure it means what I mean,
just in case.

a⋅bom⋅i⋅na⋅tion
/əˌbɒməˈneɪʃən/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [uh-bom-uh-ney-shuhn] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. anything abominable; anything greatly disliked or abhorred.
2. intense aversion or loathing; detestation: He regarded lying with abomination.
3. a vile, shameful, or detestable action, condition, habit, etc.: Spitting in public is an abomination.

Then I got the idea that maybe "abominable" is the same
term that is used to referred to the menacing snowman...
you know, the word I could never pronounce.
So I googled "abominable snowman" and, sure enough, I
was right. The abominable snowman is something greatly
disliked or abhorred. Poor guy.

"Abhor" is my current favorite word. :]



But I digress... on to the actual purpose of my note. I'm the
secretary for Graduation Committee, which means I get to
take the minutes. Hooray. Some people encourage me to write
more things down, but really, I don't need to. I record key words,
phrase, and topics and it seems to be enough. There's really
not even that much to record, in all honesty. Lots of people
speak, but no one really says anything. :]

The sixth paragraph of the minutes below was written entirely
from this line: "pictures for powerpoint by march 15 (next meeting)"

But the real reason that I am posting this is because I now have
to revise the minutes because of their mild nature of biased-ness
and rant. Never fear, my writing will not go to waste! You get
to read it, hurrah!



Meeting was opened in prayer by Bob Botterbusch at 7:04pm.

There were nine graduates and fifteen parents in attendance: Kyle and Lori Gutfleisch; Cory and Sherrie Floyd; Trevor and Jill Oles; Theresa and Nuray Holland; Edward and Charmaine Stevens, Karen Rodes; Carina, Donna, and Bob Botterbusch; Stephanie and Carol Baranik; Adele Rossiter; Rebekah and Steven Toomey; Tanisha, Cindy, and Kermit Smith; Rebecca and Sheri Picone, and Dan and Sally Samson.

There are a total of nineteen graduates registered for the ceremony.

The speaker contract has been confirmed and signed by Caleb Dalton from Generation Joshua.

Music coordinator, Nicky Snyder, and her family have temporarily moved back to Florida, but has made a cd of songs from the alternative and praise genres that can be looked over by the graduates who wish to have a say in what music will be played during the PowerPoint.

The pictures for each student’s PowerPoint presentation are due to Martin Rossiter by the next meeting on March 15. These pictures need to be on a cd and if the pictures you want to submit are hard copies, you can either take them to WalMart where they can scan them and make a cd or you can take a new picture of the hard copy and put it on a cd from your computer. The number of pictures that should be submitted for the PowerPoint presentation is unclear and the vague recommendation is 12-15, including or not including that graduate’s senior picture, which will be in the Scholar, as well as the PowerPoint.

The topics that each graduate and each graduate’s family should be thinking about, discussing, and making personal decisions about are the music choice(s) for the PowerPoint and the flow/layout/sequence of the ceremony. The graduation ceremony is four months away and these seemingly little issues will become big issues if decisions are not made about them.

Adele Rossiter researched price quotes for the printing and preparation of the programs. The number of 400 programs was what was printed last year and the following quotes were researched for that number. Printostat is $424 +tax and NeFra is $407 +$10 a pdf conversion charge. Bob Botterbusch moved that we should use NeFra for the printing of the programs, which was seconded by Lori Gutfleisch. Adele Rossiter is also going to look into getting a discount for YHSA because both the Scholar and the YHSA directories are printed through NeFra.

Each graduate is responsible for writing three separate bios/introductions. The bio for the Scholar is to be written in third person (“[Name] that, [Name] this”) and is due by March 15 to Janine Giambalvo at yhsascholar@gmail.com.
The bio for the ceremony program is due to Karen Rodes and Adele Rossiter by March 31 so that they can print a draft copy for approval and proofreading at the April meeting.
Guidelines for both the Scholar and program bios have been sent to the email thread.
Each graduate must also complete a fill-in the blank form for the emcee introduction. The due date for this task has not yet been determined.
The parents of each graduate are to compose a parent letter of prayer/well-wishes/etc that will appear in the program opposite each student’s program bio. These parent letters are also due by March 31 to Karen Rodes and Adele Rossiter so that they can print a draft copy for approval and proofreading at the April meeting.

Donations for the ceremony have not yet started coming in and the reception was discussed and debated to decide how large of a reception the graduates want to have. It was discussed that a larger reception would serve as a party for those who have out-of-town visitors and that a larger reception would require more solicitations, more donations, more money, and more volunteers and it was debated whether we should vote based on what we want to do or what we think we can do. A vote was taken with three options: just cake, cake and fruits and veggies (like last year), or a larger lunch (whether covered dish or cold lunchmeat). The vote was tied between cake/fruit/veggies and a larger lunch. A final decision has not been reached.

It was also discussed if anyone would have a problem if the cups, plates, napkins, etc that are to be donated do not match. No one attending the meeting had any argument against a practical, mismatched reception.

Careen Emrich will be playing Pomp & Circumstance for the ceremony and her sister, Alyssa, has been recruited to play a thirty-minute piano prelude from 12:30-1:00pm. YHSA Orchestra Director, Nancy Krape, is also looking into getting a quartet to play for the prelude.
Last year’s thank you gifts for music volunteers consisted of gift cards and it was suggested that the thank you gift be more along the line of flowers instead.

Since the thought of how costly the ceremony, reception, programs, and speaker are going to be, Adele Rossiter proposed doing a PizzaKits fundraiser, which could bring in an additional $250. The idea of business card ads in the actual program was also suggested and Donna Botterbusch volunteered to be in charge of gathering business cards and the $25 payment for each ad.
Another suggestion was that we could collect patron ads from friends and family members of each graduate that could be placed on the bio page of the student. The patron ad will be 65 characters long for $5. The patron ad form has been sent out to the email thread and each student is responsible for collecting patron ads and payment and giving them to Jill Oles.
The deadline for both business card ads and patron ads is March 20, as all items will need to be submitted for the rough draft of the program.
An additional fundraiser idea of a bake sale at the curriculum fair was suggested and Lori Gutfleish volunteered to head the idea, as long as it receives approval from the Board.

All order forms and payments for caps, gowns, and/or tassels are due to Carol Baranik by the March meeting (March 2). Even if a graduate is borrowing a used cap and gown, the order form must be submitted for the tassel, as each student needs a new tassel.

Tentative social activities of Avalanche Express snow tubing or ice skating were suggested.

The March meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 2 at 7pm and will be held at Grace Fellowship in room 102.
The April meeting will be either a Tuesday or Thursday evening, most likely April 2 or March 31 and Sherrie Floyd is looking into having it at Faith Alive.

Meeting was closed by Steven Toomey at 8:36pm.



-



In other news, Anderson Cooper is a hottie.