2004-06-02 - 11:24 p.m. - graduation - it's not just for kids

I feel like I graduated tonight – in a way…It’s been 9 years since I’ve started teaching full-time, and I’m finally moving on – I’m a 9th year senior, graduating with one of my favorite classes. The kids who graduated tonight I know best from their sophomore year when I taught all Biology classes in the Fall of 2001. They’re my 9/11 kids – the ones whom I barely knew back in September of 2001 and yet left a lasting impression upon me during that morning and the days following.

My first period Bio was really special that year – it was just a great mix of students. They’re the ones who stuck a $5.00 bill up on grades I had just posted in hopes of a better grade – it just cracked me up. It was their enthusiasm along with their humor that makes them stick out in my mind.

My 3rd period class that year had one of my all-time favorite students – he just found a place in my heart and has never left. He gave me a big hug tonight as I wished him congratulations. If I ever have a son some day, I hope I’m lucky enough to have one as nice and genuine as you, Brettman. I call him that because he’s a big Batman fan. When he made his little flip book showing the stages of mitosis (cell division), he included a little bat mobile taking off at the end after seeing the bat light up in the sky. It’s my favorite flip book to date! I will miss him.

Also, my advisory group whom I’ve known since they were sophomores graduated tonight. I cheered them all on back stage as they got ready to receive their diplomas and congratulated them as they made their exit.

And I’m about to make mine. It’ll be weird not returning in the Fall where I’ve made my career for almost a decade. I’ve never been at any one position longer. But my wandering lust called, and big changes are now in store for me – a new teaching position, a new place to live, a new country, and a new language.

It’s possible I may one day return to my current school and teaching position, but it’s also possible I may not. I don’t know what the future holds, only that’s it’s open wide…

Carpe diem, I say….carpe diem.

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