Another Graduation

It is hard to believe that it is graduation season... again... Today I watched my students receive their diplomas...I remember most of the conversations I have had with them over the years since becoming their assistant principal... In every group of graduates there are kids who have overcome... this group is no exception.  I watched nine kids get their diploma who did so knowing one of their parents wasn't there because they died before being able to witness this milestone in the lives of their children... I watched two of my girls graduate with their class despite people expecting them to have dropped out because they each had a baby when they were 15...mothers, at 15, and busted their asses to graduate in four years!!!  I watched students who were not born in this country... who have had to learn the language and culture here and who have succeeded in meeting the same demands as their peers... I got to see students who, despite having two parents in their lives, have done this ALL on their own... I saw kids for whom school appeared to be easy appreciate the struggles of the kids sitting next to them... I saw kids who have been and will be loners... I saw a son of immigrant parents fall into their arms after the ceremony and who stepped in to translate for them as I congratulated them and told them what a nice son they have raised...I saw kids who I saw in my office almost daily... and some who never set foot in my office... and they graduated... As I shook their hands and got huge hugs from some... I had a huge sense of pride... I have always been a cheerleader for the underdogs... Some of them I wish I had known better... One girl today, gave me a HUGE hug and thanked me so much for reaching out to her, that I had helped her, she said... I met her, officially, for the first time in my office, about three weeks ago... and asked her about her attendance and my concern that it had dropped off and I was concerned that maybe she was being made to feel uncomfortable... ( a little birdie had told me as much) ... and she told me she was fine... but that there were a few people in one of her classes who always use their phones and she had anxiety about what they may be doing with their phones... worried they were taking pictures of some of the kids in her class and posting them online, on social media, making fun of them... she told me she isn't their subject... that she is off the radar enough ... but that others are not so lucky... Our conversation was maybe 8 minutes long... and since that day she has gone out of her way to say hello to me, and smiled across the halls and cafeteria... and today she thanked me.... What I will tell her, somehow... probably a note I will mail... is that it is me who needs to thank her.  She brought something to my attention that I had not thought about... cell phones in classes... Yes, I have thought about kids using them in classes when they are supposed to be working or paying attention... but I had not thought of the angst the use of cell phones cause the other students in the room... the fear or worry that other kids are being made fun of online... the fear or worry that they are being made fun of online... the underlying anxiety that can make kids as uncomfortable as the kids who are outwardly picked on... and it is something I need to change... so her gratitude...was humbling to me... It was a reminder that I need to reach out to more kids... she is quiet, painfully shy, and I believe that a short conversation with me, concerned for her well being, meant a lot to her... what about the kids I didn't get to? what if I had?  And... I am reminded how much these kids teach me... every group of graduates... have their stories... for some of them I get to play some kind of role in those stories... some, I am sure, see me as the villain... while others, I believe see me as a parent... There are so many kids... kids who need someone... someone to believe them... to believe in them... to hold them accountable... someone they don't want to disappoint... I am grateful that I get to play those roles... they break my heart at times... worry me sick...keep me awake at night... but on graduation day... I get to be proud... of who they are, what they have done... and for the few who didn't make it across that stage today... I will keep pushing... to take next steps to get to where they want to be... my job with them is not yet done...