I have done a post about this before, because halfway through the school year a bunch of seniors who completed school in 2.5 years, rather than 3, graduated. I thought I would add some more though! In Finland, the seniors are the ones who take all the hard tests, rather than the juniors. It isn't one test that they take that has all the subjects in it, they get to choose which subjects they want to take such as psychology, English (as a second language), Spanish, math, Finnish (mother language), etc. Often the tests they take represent what they are best at, or what they want to do as a career. These tests determine whether or not you graduate high school. In English these tests are called matriculation exams. In Finnish they are the Yö exams. My pictures are terrible because I was in the back of the auditorium. At my Finnish school, the ceremony was, in my opinion, poorly executed. When the students walked across the stage, they had their backs to the audience the entire time because they were hugging a line of teachers and there was hardly a chance to take a good picture. Overall though, it is about the students receiving their hat and rose. And it was cool to see a different tradition. On the table to the right you can see the hats. The girl in the lower picture is my friend Emma.
