Before they head into their futures, Fayetteville-Manlius High School’s soon-to-be graduates recently took a stroll down memory lane.
On June 13, the hallways at Enders Road, Fayetteville and Mott Road elementary schools were flooded with former students as the Class of 2018 participated in Fayetteville-Manlius School District’s second annual Senior Walk.
Gaining popularity in school districts everywhere, the event provides graduating high school students with a chance to visit their former elementary schools where students and staff members gather to welcome and celebrate the seniors.
Following graduation dress rehearsal, the seniors boarded school buses and traveled to their former F-M elementary schools where they were greeted by cheering students and staff members. F-M’s younger students lined the hallways, offering high-fives, encouraging words, fist bumps, and hugs as the cap-and-gown-clad teenage parades snaked through each school. Many elementary students held up colorful, homemade signs that included handwritten sentiments like “congratulations!” and “you survived!” and some danced to the music that was pulsing through their school’s loudspeaker.
In 2017, F-M administrators decided to organize a Senior Walk because it supports character education for all grade levels, said F-M High School Assistant Principal Dr. Kathryn Daughton.
F-M’s Class of 2018 commencement ceremony will be 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 15 at SRC Arena on the Onondaga Community College campus. The ceremony will be streamed live on the web starting at 6:15 p.m. on Friday.