High school graduation - A view from the stand...

This is my first time attending a high school graduation. The class of 2007 graduated high school and the parents, relatives and friends of the "high school graduates" were beaming with pride. This reminded me of my high school days and how I graduated from my high school. No ceremonies and no celebrations. All the high schoolers were nervously standing near the notice boards waiting for the list to the posted so we could look at our scores in the final exams. Those scores were the deciding factor of our life and every eye was strained at the door through which this attendant would come through and stick the long sheet of paper on the notice board. The parents of the high schoolers would be nervously waiting near their vehicles for their kid to make them proud with a good score.
I was told that the kids here go through practice runs of their graduation ceremonies. The "graduation walk" was supposed to be the momentous moment(hmm.. nice phrase) of a high schooler. The walk that we took from the notice board to our parents was our graduation walk and the proudest walk ever a high schooler would have taken in his/her entire life. Here, I could see the parents waiting in the stands cheering for their kid when he/she takes their graduation walk. Cameras flashing, tapes rolling and horns blaring, the kids are given a farewell that they would remember forever.
The ceremony starts of with a welcome note, a graduation speech and a farewell address my students holding various positions in their class. Then comes the graduation walk. The grand finale is the students lining up and throwing up their hats in the air all at once which proclaims that they are now graduates and are ready to take on the world without their "hat". That "hat" was the protective shield that the schools and parents had provided them for the past 16 years and now they are ready to take on the world. I did see some kids pick up their hat after it fell to the ground. I wonder what that means.
All this left me wondering on how many of these kids really understand how lucky they are to be in such a nurtured community where every milestones in their life is celebrated with galore. I for one never had that celebration even when I graduated college since it was not a tradition to hold such graduation ceremonies then. I am not sure if it is still. I only wish that every kid who took that walk that evening turn out successful in their life.