My first block class is all seniors. They all celebrated their last day of high school today, and it was a major accomplishment for them to all be receiving diplomas tomorrow. I am so proud of them, though I did not know them for an extremely long period of time, or suffer through their trials and tribulations throughout their journey of high school, I knew this moment was one long awaited.
I found these adorable mini apple pies and picked one up for each of my seniors. I tried desperately to come up with an awful pun, and I succeeded, but vetoed myself from putting them through the pain of my puns (this time). Then, to each I wrote just a short note. Expressing how proud I was of them and what I appreciated about each of them. One of my students came up to me after opening his card and said, "Thanks Miss Ritter, this is the first time I have ever gotten a note from a teacher." My heart broke and smiled at the same time. In all his years of schooling he didn't get a personalized note?! Yet, I was ecstatic that I got to give that to him on his last day of school. Another moment I will treasure.
So, Sophia (the transcriber for the class and just about the best person ever) and I decided it was time to take one last class picture. One student absolutely refused and another ran out of the room before we even had a chance to call out his name. We laughed and rolled our eyes, walked outside to the disgusting humidity that decided to hover over East County today, and gathered up for a picture.
Now, I have a picture of all of us standing and smiling nicely, but that is not the one that I will print out and frame. The picture I will treasure is one of those candid pictures, but not the posed candid, like, the actual thing. Some students are in that "just about to smile" face, others looking away, some halfway to a pose, and the rest laughing with that glimmer of pure joy radiating off of them. It perfectly reflected each student's personality and for that reason, I will take it to each classroom I work in.
I prevented myself from getting all sentimental and teary eyed because I knew I would see my seniors tomorrow. Walking in the graduation processional with them. Watching them walk across a stage that I crossed 4 very short years ago. Four years ago, I was a senior joyfully walking across the stage, and now I have the privilege of celebrating the seniors that have journeyed through this last portion of their high school career with me. And by privilege, I mean honor. It is a big, huge, joy-filled HONOR.
So, I may not be able to post pictures of my class or my students, but hey, I don't want to share them with the world anyway, they are mine! At least until tomorrow.