More than 200 seniors from Westwood High School clambered onto a district school bus Friday morning to revisit their elementary schools before matriculating in the first of what school officials hope will be an annual tradition encouraging graduates to reflect on their high school journeys.
Wearing dark green gowns and white stoles emblazoned with the high school’s logo, seniors walked the halls of the district’s five elementary schools — Deerfield, Downey, Hanlon, Martha Jones, and Sheehan — where they were cheered on by students, teachers, and staff.
“It’s very easy to get caught up in how intense high school can be,” said Aishleen Flanagan, dean of students at Westwood High School. “But I think by seeing their old teachers, by being in their old buildings, it’ll help them to reflect on how far they’ve come.”
Two of the elementary school buildings, Deerfield and Hanlon, are set to permanently close next year to make way for a new elementary school, Pine Hill, that will combine the previous schools’ students. Friday would be the last time many members of the graduating class stepped foot in the building where they were guided through the formative years of their education.
“That’s why we pushed so hard to make sure it happened this year,” Flanagan said. ”It will be the last opportunity for our graduates to be in those buildings.”
Patrick Casavant, a senior at Westwood who attended Hanlon , said revisiting his elementary school was sentimental, but that “it’s probably time for some improvements.”
“It was a bit emotional to finally see it for the last time and know that we’re the only senior class that’s going to get to walk through there again,” Casavant said.
Casavant said the un-air-conditioned buses were packed while the temperature outside hit 90 degrees, which made for a sweaty sayonara.
“It was really awesome to go back to where it all started and reconnect with all of our elementary school friends and go walk through those halls that you started in when you were really little,” Casavant said, adding that he was able to reconnect with the elementary school friends he had grown apart from over the years.
Matthew Kuklentz, principal of Hanlon Elementary, which is scheduled for demolition in February, said a dozen of the seniors who attended Hanlon returned to the building after the tour to continue to reminisce, visiting with educators who were there when the seniors were elementary students.
“They felt like they didn’t have enough time during the clap-out to come in and just talk to the teachers that meant a tremendous amount to them,” Kuklentz said.
Flanagan said members of the Class of 2023 were thrilled by the idea of the tour, predicting before it started that the visits would yield “a lot of tears” leading up to their graduation ceremony Sunday.
“When the kids graduate, it’s not just about the high school,” she said. “It’s about their whole 13-year experience.”
The experience was also valuable to the elementary schoolers, Kuklenz said, all of whom were excited when they saw seniors walk through the halls in their graduation dress, especially those with older siblings in the Class of 2023.
Beyond the enthusiasm that rejuvenated everyone after a long school year, he said, “seeing the high schoolers come through beaming and excited for their next chapter” served as a reminder to younger students looking toward their own futures in high school that the seniors’ success is something they can look forward to.
“It means a lot to the younger kids,” Kuklentz said. “We do this because we are part of a community and we celebrate our community and we celebrate the accomplishments of the students as they’re graduating.”
Sonel Cutler can be reached at sonel.cutler@globe.com. Follow her @cutler_sonel.