The Crossover Assembly is something the whole school looks forward to every year. It’s exciting for every grade, from freshmen who are finally getting out of their green, to the passing of the torch as juniors migrate to the senior side, ripping off gold to be replaced with long-overdue maroon. And especially to seniors, who abandon their high pedestal at Dimond and gather on the floor of the gym to watch their school years flash by in the annual senior slide show. We’ve always known of and looked forward to Crossover, but has anyone ever stopped to wonder where it originated? When did it start? Who thought of the idea? And just how long has it been going on? No one in the school seems to know. “It was there when I went to school,” says Dimond alumnus Lem Wheeles, now a History teacher.. Science teacher Laurel Stutzer, who says she is often referred to as the “fossil of Dimond,” does not know where Crossover started. “I’m not sure where the idea came from,” she says. Even History teacher Gregory Brown, a Dimond alumnus and one of the teachers who has been at Dimond the longest, couldn’t come up with an answer for the origins of Crossover. Everyone seems to agree on one thing: Crossover has been around since the very beginning of Dimond’s history. It is amazing to think about how many classes of students have crossed the bleachers of the gym, how many young, naive freshmen have matured and grown into seniors before taking their place on the gym floor to look back one last time. Over the years, making signs and T-shirts and showing your class color pride has become common practice around the time of Crossover. Teachers and volunteers are commemorated as well. The whole assembly helps excite the school for the end of another year and the beginning of summer vacation. This year, students were as enthusiastic as ever. “I don’t usually go to assemblies,” says Junior Chris Brown, “But since it’s Crossover I might have to make an exception.” “I’ve gone to past Crossovers,” says Jackie Weber, also a junior. “But I’m excited about this one since I’m moving to the senior side.” It’s a given that Crossover will always be a main part of the end of the year excitement. This tradition survived the move from the old building to the new, and will continue to live on through the generations of students that call Dimond home.