Episode tie-in: Baby, Remember My Name (Season 6, Episode 24 / Finale).

After paying the cab driver, Bruno walked up to the main entrance and paused for a moment. The School of the Arts held many fond memories for him.

"Three years later and it still hasn't changed," he said. Although Bruno reluctantly dropped out of the School of the Arts during his senior year, he felt honored to be invited to be part of the Alumni Week celebration. In the ensuing three years, he had earned his GED and performed a number of various gigs after his initial job at Caruso's. Even though he didn't graduate from the school, both the faculty and his classmates supported him when his father unexpectedly died from a heart attack. He felt proud knowing the school thought enough of him to invite him to his first Alumni Week.

As he entered the main entrance, he looked around. The school still had the same aura about it. Posters for the upcoming show were a constant, even when the production and cast list changed each semester. Bruno looked closer. Just maybe there was a new club or two since his days as a student. He continued to follow the signs to the check-in area for the alumni. As he reached his destination, he wondered if any of the current students would look familiar. Also, he found himself wondering if he'd recognize any of the alumni. After checking in, a familiar face without an alumni tag surprised him. Surely, his former classmate would have graduated by now. Bruno casually tapped Danny on the shoulder as he walked past him. Danny turned around

"Are you ever gonna graduate?" Bruno asked Danny. Although his question was intended as playful banter, it was also somewhat serious.

"I can't believe you made it. How are you, Martelli?" Danny replied.

After telling him he was great, Bruno was set to tell Danny more, but one of the teachers quickly spotted the former student.

"Mr. Martelli," Mr. Shorofsky called out.

The pair shared a hug and caught up on the past few years. Now that he was no longer a student and more of musician, Bruno realized just how much he appreciated his cantankerous, demanding music teacher. He figured he owed Mr. Shorofsky a lot of credit for his successes as a musician, no matter how minor they may have been to date. Today was Bruno's chance to finally thank Mr. Shorofsky for making him both a better musician and a better person.

It wasn't long before other recent alumni arrived. Doris, Montgomery, Holly, and Coco all ran into each other at roughly the same time. Even Miss Sherwood showed up. She wasn't an alumna, but she was a long-time English teacher that left the school at the start of the school year to focus on promoting her recently-published novel.

As the last note came from the impromptu jam session, everyone erupted into cheers. Baby, Remember My Name seemed to be an appropriate song for the combination of alumni, faculty, and staff. Even Mrs. Berg impressed everyone with her dancing skills.

A short time later, the yearbook committee reviewed their video footage. They captured many of the week's events on film, but they had to cut it down to no more than two hours. Between student activities, the alumni interviews, and the group singing at the end of the day, they had so much footage that it was difficult to decide what had to be removed.

"We sure have a lot of good stuff here. What are we going to do?" Jesse asked.

"Maybe we can trim the interviews down to one from each decade. Or two at the most. That way, we get a better idea of the school's history—how it's changed and how it's stayed the same," Maxie suggested.

"That makes sense," Jillian replied.

"Something seems missing though," Danny stated.

"I agree with you, Danny, but I don't know what it is," Dusty replied.

"We need something with more pizzazz," Reggie said.

"No, not that. I think we're leaving out an important person or persons in our tribute to students past and present."

Jesse observed the conversation with quiet reflection. Finally, he spoke up.

"I know. A memorial for our other past students," he told everyone.

"What do you mean?" Jillian asked.

"We've taken time to honor our current students and the graduates who have done great things. We need to recognize those who didn't make it ... students such as Nicole."

Everyone else looked on in shock. Given Jesse and Nicole's breakup, nobody expected him to mention her name again—especially after she died as the passenger in a drunk driving accident earlier in the school year.

"You're right. We need to remember her, too," Danny said.

"Might I make a suggestion as the yearbook editor?" Jillian asked. "Why don't we do some research to see who else didn't make it to go on to great things?"

"Who would know such a thing?" Maxie asked.

"Mrs. Berg would. She's been here longer than any of us—even me," Danny quipped.

"You're right. We can ask her tomorrow. But when are we going to start editing for the final product?"

"Let's start that at our next meeting. Lou is hosting an Alumni Week dinner tonight. We should go join them. A lot of the Alumni from out-of-state are using this as their last event of the week. It might be a good chance to get some wrap-up footage," Jillian told everyone.

At Lou's Lanes, Danny walked over to Leroy.

"What's this I hear? You're not teaching anymore?"

"That's right, Amatullo. I'm going to be the lead dancer in Michael Taftner's upcoming production," Leroy replied proudly.

"The alumni guy Miss Grant shows in her upper-level dance classes? That's amazing. Good luck, man."

"I heard you're about to graduate. Took you long enough."

"Yeah, Danny. Why did it take you six years to get out of here?" Doris asked.

"Well, Mrs. Rhythm," Danny answered, "Nobody ever told me seniors have to fill out a graduation form. By the time I realized it, the deadline to submit it had long past. Given Mr. Morloch was unsympathetic, I was stuck here for another year."

"But why didn't you graduate last year?" Bruno interjected.

"I had the form all filled out and ready to submit. I was sick on a Friday and came back to school on Monday. Wouldn't you know the deadline was the Friday. Mrs. Berg tried her best for me, but Mr. Dyrenforth explained the deadline is hard and fast because it's a school board rule."

"I bet you're glad to finally graduate," Doris deadpanned.

"You can say that again. The past two years, all my assignments have been more advanced than the rest of my classmates'. This year, I was expected to do projects that a college freshman would do. So, yeah, I'm ready to move on."

"What are you gonna do now?"

"I'm thinking of starting out at City College. I'll probably study drama and see what happens from there."

"You're tough, Danny. Whatever you do, I'm sure you'll do great. You're not a quitter."

"Thanks, Donlon, I appreciate that."

Danny turned to face Doris again. "So, will Jenny be in the Class of 2005?" he asked her.

Doris chuckled. "If she wants to take after her mother, why not?"

Leroy grabbed his soda and raised it. "A toast... to the future?"

The group touch their glasses with Leroy's and repeated, "To the future!"

Chapter/Closing Commentary

For this chapter, I decided to entwine events from the episode with this chapter and include a continuation scene as well. Although it wasn't my original plan, I found it interesting to start and end this collection of vignettes with the pilot and final episodes.

Here, I wanted to focus on two issues other fans observed about the finale. First, there is the fact Danny was a student for six years and never graduated. He was a smart enough guy, so I've wondered why the writers did that. While I have a feeling there's no reasonable or logical explanation for this inconsistency, I decided that blaming it on paperwork and bureaucracy was as good a reason as any.

Additionally, I've seen fans question the lack of remembering Nicole's character in the finale. We'll probably never know if it was an oversight or if Nia Peeples' departure from the show was not on positive terms. Still, I thought it was only proper someone would want to have some sort of memorial for Nicole and possibly other deceased students.

I also tried to set up the chapter where we start with the past, namely Bruno's return to the School of the Arts. From there, the scenes focused on the present moments capped by everyone singing the Fame theme and continuing with plans to work on the final version of the video yearbook. Finally, the chapter ends with a few people discussing their future plans. I also found it fitting to hint that Doris' newborn daughter could very well end up being a future SOA student.

END