With times changing, one thing remains the same. That is the tradition of eighth-grade graduation.

“I think it’s a big deal in smaller communities,” said Boundary County Middle School Principal Dick Behrens. “They tend to value those things and hold on to them. Here it is an important event to the community and in the life of the kids.”

Some eighth-grade girls even go and get their hair and nails professionally done for their graduation ceremony.

It took eighth-grader Josie Reinhart an hour and a half to get ready for this year’s event on June 5, which saw 120 students go through the ceremony. Josie feels it is important to dress up.

“I know I made it through the year and I did a good job,” she said. “We want to look our best. We are moving on and want people to remember us.”

The middle school staff asked girls not to wear formal dresses, Behrens said.

“Do a lot of kids buy new dresses? Of course,” he said. “We are requesting they wear dresses that are not formal floor-length dresses.”

“I do think there could be a power outage in the next hour when all the girls start doing their hair,” Behrens joked.

For Laura Worley, who took over three hours to get ready, the night is about the memories she has made over the year.

“We dress up because we want to be noticed,” Laura said. “It’s just about the memories of all the things we have done in the past year.”

The night was followed by the traditional dance in the middle school cafeteria.