Manassas Park's Graduation: Moments, Memories and Monopoly Man

If 2012 really marks the end of civilation as some believe, then Manassas Park’s 146 graduates certainly made the best of their circumstances as the last class of the world as we know it.

, the air was thick with the joy and jubilations that accompany commencement, an annual ceremony well-suited for making memories.

Memories was theme of the address given by

“My belief is that my journey through life is about making memories. ...” Doyle told the class. “Your experience and all that you’ve done here is about making memories.”

Doyle said he has his own special memories of his first graduating class at the high school.

 “Some of you said to me, ‘Kids on Facebook are saying you look like Monopoly man,” Doyle said, prompting laughter from the audience.

 I, too, thought it was funny and very, very true.

Yes, Mr. Doyle, all you need is the the top hat and the monocle and you could grace the covers of Monopoly board games everywhere.

And to the Class of 2012: You aren’t done learning yet. Let your Patch editor school you. 

Did you know that “Monopoly man," the character you likened your principal to, actually has a name?

 He’s been known as Mr. Monopoly since 1999. But to anyone about 25 and up, he’s known as Rich Uncle Pennybags.

According to Wikipedia, the encyclopedia of choice for this generation of grads, he was officially dubbed “Rich Uncle” by the Parker Brothers Company in 1933.

The Pennybags surname was added during the 1980s, right around the time my sisters and I were fighting over who got to be the banker and blaming each other for losing the silver “car” piece in the game.

 But all games aside, the seniors who spoke at graduation had some very grown up things to say about their experiences, the world around them and their futures.

Through her speech, Senior Class President Gabriela Vargas showed she understood that they were facing the real world now and that she and her peers would be held accountable for their actions as adults.

“ … Nobody is going to coddle you anymore and tell you you’re the bees knees,” Vargas said.

 She gave some advice on how to stop throwing the childish temper tantrums over the small things and began viewing your circumstances as an adult would.

“… don’t get so worked up over highway traffic—at least your weren’t in the accident that caused it,” she said. “ …  if you need some inspiration, look at your parents, they’ve been doing it for years.”

 In his address, Salutatorian Joshua Morgan told his class how they should view the turning point in their lives that is graduation.

“We shouldn’t see it as a departing from our comfort zone, but an opportunity for something greater,” Morgan said.

 With 113 graduates college-bound and four going into the armed forces,  I’m confident this class will view their lives as much more than board game, and I hope they will take the world both seriously and by storm.