Thursday was a special day. Not only was it Passing of the Light but it was one last time for gathering in the morning and catching up with friends, for morning circle and shares, for laughing and good-hearted teasing, for hugs and a few tears. This whole year has been special to me. I entered not knowing what the year would bring and left feeling full to the brim and actually slightly overflowing. So this is one last time for the Galaxy blog - I promise.
Keri and I both want to share the words spoken about the graduates during Passing of the Light. I'm including Ian Lowthorp because although he's not an official graduate, he is moving on to high school next year. I'll start with Keri's thoughts, then Birch's, and finally mine. So without further ado, here we go.
Jada Church
I was adamant that I was not going to speak today. Speaking in front of people never ranks high on my list of fun things to do. Add in the hyper-emotions of saying goodbye and a crying instinct nearly as strong as Mrs. G’s, and the task dropped even lower on that list. But Mrs. G was right, as she often is, that I would want to say a few things about these kids who I have loved the past two years. I often told people that it feels I now have 13 bonus children in addition to the 2 I actually gave birth to. I have prayed for them, defended them, worried for them, sorrowed and rejoiced with them. There are so many wonderful things to say about them, but with so many graduates, I am forced to focus it down to just one aspect of each kid.
Jada, 1 year: bold. Jada stepped in as the only new student this year, to a class where everyone else had known each other for at minimum 1 year, but often many years. Her first class job was to keep everyone on track with the more intensive clean up that happened on Friday afternoons. I am not sure what Mrs. J and I expected, but we were delighted to see Jada, completely unhesitant and with calm but certain authority, directing her new peers through their tasks. Our classroom had never looked so good! That may have been my first glimpse of Jada’s bold, but it wasn’t the only one. On the day that I came to school sad and unable to hide it, Jada, without stopping to ask what had happened, was the first person to walk up and ask if she could give me a hug.
Jada joined the Galaxy class this school year and immediately became a part of it. She added her own uniqueness to an already extremely unique class making it even better and just a little more interesting.
Her hair shines of copper and gold
She's quiet but also quit bold
It's been only one year
But we'll miss her I fear
Jada's memory will never grow old.
Jada, 1 year: bold. Jada stepped in as the only new student this year, to a class where everyone else had known each other for at minimum 1 year, but often many years. Her first class job was to keep everyone on track with the more intensive clean up that happened on Friday afternoons. I am not sure what Mrs. J and I expected, but we were delighted to see Jada, completely unhesitant and with calm but certain authority, directing her new peers through their tasks. Our classroom had never looked so good! That may have been my first glimpse of Jada’s bold, but it wasn’t the only one. On the day that I came to school sad and unable to hide it, Jada, without stopping to ask what had happened, was the first person to walk up and ask if she could give me a hug.
Jada joined the Galaxy class this school year and immediately became a part of it. She added her own uniqueness to an already extremely unique class making it even better and just a little more interesting.
Her hair shines of copper and gold
She's quiet but also quit bold
It's been only one year
But we'll miss her I fear
Jada's memory will never grow old.
Jordan Wood
Energy. Charismatic and mercurial, I've never seen anyone move with such agility and speed. You never know when he's going to pop out of his seat and do a flip. Likewise, you never know when he's going to upstage professional actors at Colonial Williamsburg, or say something so true and honest from his big heart that time stops. Jordan's well of abilities is deep and mysterious, and I wonder if he, too, is surprised when a new talent emerges.
Jordan, his smile's so contagious
With antics most often outrageous
He leaves with good tools
And the knowledge of rules
If followed will be advantageous.
Jordan, 3 years: I have never had the privilege of blaming my gray hair on my children, as I found the first few before they were ever born. It was just this year that I realized those hairs showed up right about the time Jordan entered the world. His hijinks have kept me on my toes for the last two years. So I have to admit, I take a certain joy in thinking this word choice might embarrass Jordan at least a little bit: lovable. The truth is, I wouldn’t change a thing about Jordan. His smiles easily spread from student to student and when he laughs, everyone else does too. Even when he is upset, he is seldom alone, as his friends rally around to cheer him back up. Even the teachers are not immune to his charms. I would have gladly brought him home and raised him alongside my own children, except that my husband reminded me that that’s called kidnapping, which is frowned upon.
Jordan, his smile's so contagious
With antics most often outrageous
He leaves with good tools
And the knowledge of rules
If followed will be advantageous.
Ian Burford
5 years: curious. What happened to the stapler? Burford tried to fix it. Why is there aluminum foil on the plasma ball . . . again? Burford wanted to charge a battery. Where did the prongs of my binder clips go? I don’t know, but Burford was sitting in your chair earlier. When did…? Burford. How is...? Burford. Why? Burford. Always exploring, always learning. If anything broke, Ian inevitably wanted to take it home to tinker. Ian dove whole-heartedly into all mysteries, riddles, and logic puzzles. With his quick intelligence, we sometimes had to remind him to let his classmates have a chance to figure them out too. Ian’s curiosity has served him well in his learning already: his social studies fair project displayed his own prototype for creating electricity by harnessing the power of the ocean’s waves. I eagerly anticipate seeing what big problems of the world will break down in the face of Ian’s gigantic curiosity.
Idea. Always questioning, always wondering, always designing. This one is always tinkering with something, the pencil sharpener, perhaps, or the problem of efficient, sustainable energy. Ian is perhaps the most naturally curious human I know, finding something interesting everywhere. Everything is experimental. Lovely melodies emerge from the imagination of this one.
This Ian - his brain doesn't stop
As flautist he's over the top
But one thing is actual
His facts - sometimes factual
Most the time makes my brain want to pop.
Victoria Arce
Victoria, 7 years: My first instinct with Victoria was to say “kind.” While she is one of the kindest people I know, always looking out for her friends, I felt the word “kind,” however great and rare an achievement that is, was insufficient for what I see in her. So I chose the word shining. Victoria shines by being purposefully, persistently happy and optimistic. If you aren’t watching closely, it is easy to miss the moments where she is upset. But Victoria is worth watching closely. She quietly pulls back, buoys herself up, then re-joins the group, back to her usual, pleasant self. She also shines through her creativity, which spans writing fantastic stories, singing and writing her own songs, and drawing beautiful pictures, sometimes even on her math worksheets.
Love. Always the one to reach out, to run up and give a hug, to put her arm around a sad-eyed student, to feel deeply troubled when someone has done something wrong. Victoria lives with an open heart, speaking and acting with others first in her mind. At first a hesitant student, she followed her love of stories and of people into reading, writing, and learning about the world, finding true grace as a student.
Victoria, now what can I say
Her smile always brightens my day
With pencil in hand
She draws when she can
Her talent will carve its own way.
Indigo Graves
Indigo, 10 years: enthusiastic. If I ever worried that a student would groan about an activity, I made sure to put them in the same group as Indigo. Her confident excitement about everything life offers is sure to brush off on others. And why shouldn’t it? She is always doing such cool stuff! I have come to think of Indigo as a friend as well as my student. She was the first student to turn the tables and begin recommending books to me (and they were always good recommendations!). She was the one I told my bad puns to and the one most attentive to what I came to call Mrs. Troyer’s Useless Facts. Indigo strikes a perfect balance of mature and giggly. Basically, I hope I can be more like her as I grow up.
Care. There is none like this one. Such light, such color, such profound awareness and exuberance for every day. She truly delights in your joy, and she wants you to be well. Perhaps more than any other, she has grown up within this school, from Pre-K to 8th grade, sleeping at GES when her parents had to work late, sharing them with this school, but also sharing this school with them. Tremendously capable, this young lady gets how things work and how to do them well, but it is her care toward others--how she knows the interests and foibles and allergies of every last kid in the school--that makes her papa the proudest.
These next two students, Indigo and Maxine, have spent most of their waking hours at GES -- together. They are their own persons, very different from each other, yet so intwined that I often call them Maxigo. Mariah shared these words with me. “I was lucky enough to start preK at GES along with Indigo and Maxine. Even then it was easy to see the girls were going to be good friends - that they were special in their love for learning and their delight in the world around them. These qualities have only grown over the years. I’m very glad to share this day with Indy and Maxine.
Positivity is Indigo's muse
A trait I'm sure she'll never lose
Her outlook is one
That can outshine the sun
Are assets that she'll always use.
Positivity is Indigo's muse
A trait I'm sure she'll never lose
Her outlook is one
That can outshine the sun
Are assets that she'll always use.
Maxine Casto
Maxine, 11 years: excellent. Maxine puts her whole heart in everything she does. Her drawings look 3-dimensional and downright realistic. She can deliver her presentations with details and passion, which took her all the way to the state level for the social studies fair this year. Her writing is vivid and emotional. She is a quick and independent learner who not only completed her math course, but made a bit dent in next year’s curriculum as well. And last year she made me a cake that was simply divine. All this work and talent is developed with her own motivation: as her teacher, I provided the assignments and ideas and she was off! completing each one to her own high standard, which consistently surpassed my expectations.
I could tell so many more stories of each of these kids (and the ones not graduating besides). But my time is up. Just know that they are all wonderful in these and so many other ways. I look forward to seeing what paths they take from here and I am honored to have walked beside them for a stretch. I thank you all for the great privilege of sharing your children with me.
Focus. Would you like a breathtakingly detailed cake? How about a lovely piano piece. Or a rock beat on the drums, perhaps? An acutely rendered short story, a breathtaking poem, the best student essay I've ever read? Everything Maxine does, she does very, very well. It is expected of her--by herself. Quiet strength, and fierce drive. And under it all is just her... down-to-earth, funny, aware.
She's pleasant and thoughty and sweet
A more driven girl you won't meet
Her writing's sublime
Her best every time
Knowing Maxie has been this year's treat.
Ian Lowthorp
Impressive. In a casual conversation earlier in the year, I told another teacher, “It’s easy for me to forget that Ian is only 12.” When I related this to Ian, he looked at me strangely and said, “I’m 13. I’ve been 13 all year.” As you might guess, that wasn’t really that much easier for me to remember: he seems so much more mature than his years. Ian always came to school excited to talk about his latest adventures, which could be anything from practicing Jiu Jitsu to foraging for mushrooms to creating original D & D campaigns to crafting jewelry to reading great books to cooking for his family . . . And the list goes on. I joked that I wanted to hire him as my personal trainer, but the whole truth is, I often felt like I had as much to learn from him as he did from me.
He's fit in both body and mind
No stronger leader you'll find
He's so very charming
Which is somewhat alarming
There may just be one of his kind.
I wish everyone the best of all things. Thank you for all your support. I'll remember this year fondly.
Mrs. J
