Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 23 Aug 2015.<\/p>\n
This past week I had several interesting situations occur that really drove home to me the connection between education and genealogy.<\/p>\n
The first was an email from my division superintendent that requested everyone bring a photo of their high school graduation to post as a visual reminder of our district\u2019s goal of increasing high school graduation rates.\u00a0 Problem is, I don\u2019t have a grad photo.\u00a0 If you\u2019re one of my loyal readers you know my parents were divorced when I was young.\u00a0 I attended 1st<\/sup> through 11th<\/sup> grade in the Lake County, Indiana school district where my mom and I lived with my grandparents.\u00a0 In June of my rising senior year I sat for senior picture; the custom at that time was girls had to wear a crew neck grey top- no mortar boards. \u00a0I have a copy of the photo which never appeared in a school yearbook because in August, my mother, who was employed by Montgomery Wards Department Stores, which was then owned by Mobil Oil, was given a transfer to Florida.\u00a0 Mom gave me the option of going with her or moving in with my dad and step-mother to complete my senior year in Indiana.\u00a0 Either way, I would have had to attend a different high school so I opted to move to Florida.<\/p>\n My first day of my senior year at St. Petersburg High School was a disaster.\u00a0 I had to retake classes I had already passed because Pinellas County Schools did not have a work-study program that I was scheduled to take in Indiana. They wouldn\u2019t let me attend school part time, either.\u00a0 I had wanted to work my senior year to save money for college so that goal was shot.\u00a0 In addition, no one spoke to me the entire day, even when I asked for directions.\u00a0 I came home that evening and announced that I was quitting school.\u00a0 My mother insisted I return so the next morning we met with the guidance counselor.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember his name but I remember his complete lack of concern.\u00a0 He suggested I enroll in a school for drop outs where I could complete assignments at my own pace and hold a job.\u00a0 My mom drove me to the new school.\u00a0 As we entered there was a fist fight in the hall and we had trouble getting into the office.\u00a0 No adults were around although this was adult education.\u00a0 I only needed 3 classes to graduate but the school only allowed enrolling in 2 classes at a time.\u00a0 I finished senior English and Business Math in two weeks.\u00a0 I then enrolled in Americanism vs. Communism.\u00a0 Back in the day, the state of Florida was fairly certain Fidel Castro was going to storm the shores so every Florida senior had to be prepared by taking this ridiculous course.\u00a0 Even though I finished the actual course work in another 2 weeks I was forced to sit for the entire school day in the class for an additional two weeks as there was a requirement that students must be enrolled for a certain number of hours.\u00a0 The teacher was kind and told me I could bring anything quiet to do so I read a book a day.\u00a0 No one spoke to me at this school either.\u00a0 At the time, doctors, judges and other leaders in the community were so afraid that their children would become drug addicts that they enrolled them in a now defunct program called \u201cThe Seed.\u201d\u00a0 Anyone enrolled was not permitted to speak with anyone outside of the group.\u00a0 The organization decided to enroll all of their students at the adult ed program probably because there would be less opportunity to interact with other teens.\u00a0 I completed my entire senior year in 6 weeks.\u00a0 When I went to the school counselor to turn in my completion paperwork she informed me the district would mail my diploma to me by the end of the semester (which they did but spelled my name wrong which is another story).<\/p>\n I never had a graduation ceremony so I never wore a cap and gown which is why I don\u2019t have any pictures to contribute.\u00a0 Hubby offered to photo shop my senior pic to add a mortar board but I nixed that idea.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to fake history.\u00a0 I submitted a photo of my college graduation instead.<\/p>\n Technically, I’m a high school graduate as I had the diploma conferred to me via US Mail but since this didn\u2019t occur with pomp and circumstance I have no photo. \u00a0Several of my co-workers did attend a graduation ceremony but it wasn\u2019t a custom to take a picture of the diploma being conferred so they don\u2019t have pictures, either.<\/p>\n I think the practice of taking a picture as the diploma is being awarded must have occurred in my area after the early 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 My bachelor\u2019s and first master\u2019s degree photos were taken by my mom and husband.\u00a0 By the time I received my second masters in the 90\u2019s, photographers were on stage snapping away during the ceremony.\u00a0 By the 2000\u2019s you could get the whole event on DVD.<\/p>\n My point is you may be looking for a record or photo that doesn\u2019t exist because it was never recorded. Next time you’re searching for that wedding photo or birth certificate think about the possibility that it never was! \u00a0This will save you time and frustration – just look for an alternative, like the marriage license of a baptism certificate. \u00a0In my case, I have the transcripts and diploma – just no picture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 23 Aug 2015. This past week I had several interesting situations occur that really drove home to me the connection between education and genealogy. The first was an email from my division superintendent that requested everyone bring a photo of their high school graduation to post as a visual reminder … Continue reading “The Nonexistent Genealogical Record”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,5],"tags":[147,146,145,134],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brick-walls","category-education","tag-diploma","tag-graduation","tag-sat","tag-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}