Grade-schoolers mark a passage

Friday was almost like any other day for 12-year-old Brianna Smith.

She awoke around 7 a.m., took her usual 15- to 20-minute shower, ate some Belgian waffles in her purple bathrobe, and began the primping process worthy of a celebrity.

Curlers, contact lenses, a little black eyeliner.

Her brother, Jonathan, 13, steered clear of the bathroom.

“I try to stay out of the way,” the lanky seventh-grader said.

When it was time for Brianna to get dressed, the day became a little less ordinary.

Brianna was dressing to be “promoted” to seventh grade, with a special ceremony at Madison Elementary School.

It was the last day of school for about 28,000 students in Spokane Public Schools and most other local districts, and for sixth-graders like Brianna the day is both bitter and sweet. Students who have roamed the hallways of some elementary schools for seven years, beginning as kindergartners, will leave behind teachers and friends for the unknown. Brianna will attend Garry Middle School in the fall.

“I almost cried this morning,” Brianna’s mother, Dena Smith, said. “I’ve watched them grow up, and now to think they are done with Madison.”

Brianna, a competitive dancer used to being groomed for performance, let her mother curl her blond locks before slipping into the dress she bought for her special day.

The celebration at Madison is called a promotion instead of a graduation because they “try not to overdo it,” said Principal Brent Perdue.

“Sometimes I worry we have too many celebrations along the way,” taking steam out of the high school graduation, Perdue said.

But it is a big deal, at least for the sixth-graders moving on. One that for Brianna required the perfect sparkly teal dress found after two trips to the mall and five or six specialty shops.

The dress has spaghetti straps and a V-neck. It falls in layers that swirl around her calves. The best was saved for last: Cinderella sandals with clear straps, shiny rhinestones and 2-inch heels.

“I don’t usually like to wear dresses,” Brianna said. But this day was different.

Her grandmother, Bobbi Smith, who lives across the street from the family, arrived with a gold necklace with a ruby.

“Good luck, baby,” she said.

There was another gift, from her parents: her very own cell phone.

As Brianna arrived at school, there were young girls becoming young women everywhere. Some were not quite mature enough to fill out the evening wear that many had chosen for the day.

In the hallways, Brianna strode arm-in-arm with her friends, Samantha Caler and Brittani Ramey. Next year, one friend will go to Salk, and one will go to Garry.

“I want my friends to be in the same classes, and have the same lunch,” Brianna said. “But I’ll make new ones.”

Before the ceremony, Brianna visited each of her teachers from the last seven years, giving each a yellow rose. Mrs. Walther, Mrs. Rush, Mrs. Johns, Mr. Skalstad, Mr. Corigliano, and Mrs. Van Fossen, who was her fourth- and sixth-grade teacher.

Jonathan did the same for his teachers when he left last year. He skipped his own last day of school Friday to be at his sister’s promotion.

“It’s weird being back,” he noted. The hallways seemed small, the gym tiny.

For the moment, Brianna and her friends ruled the halls, laughing and giggling with excitement.

Two teens from North Central High School passed on their way to gym for the ceremony, eyeing the younger girls.

“They look like they are trying to look like we do,” a 16-year-old said.

Thus the power struggles between teenage girls began. It will likely continue for Brianna and the other sixth-grade graduates, for the next six years.

The ceremony commenced, with the awarding of certificates carrying “all the rights and privileges thereof.” Families cheered, and teachers cried. There was cake and punch. Summer vacation officially began.