Grad Sweaters 30 Year Anniversary

The gleaming white grad sweaters arrive, complete with custom embroidered names on the sleeves. It takes less than a thousandth of a second for the cloak of Gr 12 status to make it onto the shoulders of most ladies. We’ve all relished in the joy of slipping on our badge of honour, our distinguished regalia, our status symbol as rulers of the school. Or have we?

The grad sweaters, a time honoured tradition at LFA, have only been worn by grads-in-waiting since the Class of 1984. Admittedly, “only” may seem a little strange to some of our more recent graduates. 1984 was a long time ago – 30 years ago, in fact! However, our graduates go back much further than 1984, so there are many Little Flower alumnae who never got the honour to strut around in their own grad sweaters.

Still, for 30 classes of Grade 8s, those gleaming white sweaters added to the awe and glow that Grade 12s seemed to have. After all, Grade 12s are Grade 12s; they know it all, they’ve done it all, and they can drive to school! Thirty classes of Grade 9s and 10s watched as in a sea of maroon, the white sweaters confidently swept down the hallways. It was the 30 Grade 11 classes that most watched those sweaters, coveting them, waiting for the horror of Grade 11 seriousness to give way to the fun and excitement of Grade 12. After all this time though, the origin of the graduation sweater tradition is a little unclear. Sr. Jo, who proudly wears her grad sweater whenever she can, often goes into a twittery tale of those “wonderful, wonderful ladies of the Class of 1984” who started the tradition.

We’d love to know more about how the idea came about, who came up with the design and what they meant to that first class that wore them. So we are asking all you Grads of 1984 to fill us in. Send us an email (alumnae@lfabc.org) or stop by the school for a visit. We’d also love to hear from other years. How did you celebrate your final year in high school? What graduation traditions did you enjoy? We’ll share your memories and stories in an upcoming edition of this magazine.

Grad Sweater History Update
I'm fairly certain that the tradition has its roots with the 1981 senior girls volleyball team (in fact, see page 11 bottom right hand corner - the team manager is wearing a v-neck sweater - the cardigan's predecessor). The team had the sweaters made and were the only ones in the school with them. It was the same for the 1982 team. Come 1983, the rest of the grade 12s were wanting in on the cool sweaters. So, in the spirit of fairness, the option was made available to all of the grade 12s.
Regards,
Veo Bunderla '83