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EMMA, Ind. (AP) — Westview Junior/Senior High School held its eighth grade completion ceremony Tuesday.
Two hundred thirteen students received their completion certificate in the gymnasium during a recognition program in front of friends, fellow junior high students and family.
According to junior high Principal Randy Miller, approximately half of the students who completed eighth grade will not attend high school.
"Around 100 kids will leave this building," he told The Goshen News (http://bit.ly/1pTzELO ).
Many of those students are of the Amish faith, who do not usually continue schooling past eighth grade.
The Amish students were easy to pick out Tuesday, with the boys wearing matching colors picked by the girls. This year, the girls picked a teal-blue color for themselves and pink for the boys. Miller said that they give the Amish students a time to work out the colors.
"It's totally theirs, we just provide them a time. We want to stay out of that business. We don't want to upset any mothers or anything, and every year they show up looking awesome, so it's pretty cool," he said.
He said the girls meet once to discuss colors and another time to pick out fabrics.
The eighth-grade completion ceremony, with the brightly-colored dress by the Amish, is one of the things that make Westview different.
"It makes us special and unique, that's kind of how we deal with it," Miller said.
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Information from: The Goshen News, http://www.goshennews.com
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