The Graduates

I recently attended a graduation celebration for high school seniors in the feeder pattern of the elementary school I serve as principal. While I don’t personally know most of the students who proudly walked the stage, it was one of the most emotional educational ceremonies I have attended in some time.

Maybe it was the fact that those young men and women overcame significant challenges and adversity in order to graduate high school and be present at that celebration.

Maybe it was the fact that we were at an outdoor venue watching these deserving graduates be celebrated live and in person after such a long pause on events of this caliber.

Either way I found myself struck with emotion when the principal shared in his commencement speech ‘YOU did it, YOU earned this day’.

Those students, and all of our students around the country, sure did earn it. May they take the life lessons they have learned these past 15 months and look to their bright futures. These students are ready to take their rightful place in this world. We are counting on them!

Conversely, at the elementary level we are also having some celebrations of our own! Pre-K and Kindergarten students are celebrating the culmination of their first school experiences. These students entered an educational world never seen before and will hopefully graduate into a new system that has grown leaps and bounds the past two years and is ready to serve their individual needs long into the future.

Our 5th grade students, who are ready to spread their wings in middle school, are no strangers to change. While nothing like the COVID-19 pandemic was more disruptive to education, these students were among the first to experience evolving curriculum, increased technology, adjusting assessments, rigor and much more. Adapting to change is no surprise for the future class of 2028 and I believe they will be better served in the future because of it!

So, while there may not be a definitive end date or ceremony for COVID-19, and we are all somehow forever impacted by this pandemic, I couldn’t help but think we are all in some way ‘graduates’.

• We faced the unknown

• We overcame adversity

• We sacrificed

• We reimagined education and life as we know it

Following a graduation or major life event the proverbial question is often ask: what next? What plans do you have for your future?

We all have a chance here to capitalize from this moment in time and change our lives and profession for the better! Your normal doesn't have to look the way it used to and in some ways it shouldn't.....we've changed, the world has changed!

NOW is the chance to reflect and improve any aspect of your life.

I believe the simple practice of letting go of things we've learned we don't need anymore and growing those areas in which we reimagined an extraordinary new landscape can change our world AND the educational system.

WE have the power to make significant changes that will impact lives for years and possibly decades to come. The time is NOW!

So here’s to the graduates, the ones who faced adversity, overcame challenges, and have experienced success! The ones who are moving forward focused on the possibilities of the future....

May we all take the lessons we have learned and move forward ready to improve our lives and the world as better, stronger people!