Graduation Night

Tonight was the graduation of the first class of freshmen that I taught. They were a pretty rough group as freshmen, but helped to make me a better teacher.

I am glad to see the strides that most of them have made in four years. That being said, this was the first graduation that I have been to (at this school) that the seniors actually misbehaved. They had beach balls they blew up and passed along, fortunately, they waited until the school song to start passing them around, so it was not distracting to any of the speakers or to the overall ceremony.

Both the valedictorian and salutatorian were in my senior class, and did a great job with their speeches. The salutatorian was talking about how important it is to think for yourself, and the teacher next to me pointed out one of the seniors who was rocking his body to make the tassel on his graduation cap swing in circles. I found this more than slightly amusing - I completely lost it. I laughed so hard I was crying. The valedictorian called me out in her speech, I was worried when I heard my name, but she was very sweet.

After the ceremony another teacher and I were handing out the actual diplomas, and I got to say congratulations to almost every graduate. It is very rewarding as a teacher to see students grow up and move on. I enjoy graduation every year, (and would attend even if it was not mandatory) but this year it was especially enjoyable.