Re: Graduation

DAFG3030@xxxxxxx wrote:
So I am a Special Services teacher at a high school in the southwest
suburbs of Chicago. I teach Algebra. Today I attended a graduation
ceremony...which should be a very joyous occasion. This, however, was
a graduation ceremony that kept us all feeling a little tense and
apprehensive all week. It was something that we (my department) knew
we should attend...and would attend...but it just kind of put us all
in a funk this week. So today we all went. I had had the student in
my algebra class when she was a sophmore, just two years ago and she
was a pistol! She could not see well, was diabetic, was quite
opinionated on how SHE believed the math problems SHOULD be done, but
she was funny and sensitive and wanted to be helpful to all those
students around her who had much less severe disabilities than she
did. She had been ill all her life. She had had brain tumors
removed, shrunk, etc. etc. She had a tumor still in her brain, which
caused her vision to be so poor. But she always came to class with a
smile. Always had her homework done. Always tried to do her best.
She had her down days. Like the day one student asked "When are we
going to really use this in life?" Of course I responded and asked
some of the kids what they wanted to do for a career when they grew
up, so that I could fit my response to their career choice if
possible. Well, without thinking, I asked this student what her plans
for the future were. She just smiled at me and quietly said that she
really didn't plan that far ahead, since she probably wasn't going to
"make it" that far anyway. Her one goal that she kept aiming for, was
to graduate high school.

Well, today it happened. As we all waited for her in the room that
was decorated for her graduation, I have to say that I was shocked to
see her when she entered the room. She has been home-bound most of
this school year, so it had been months since I saw her. She was in a
wheel chair, her little legs as thin as twigs. Her hair was patchy
and her vision completely gone now. When I leaned to speak to her I
had to tell her who I was and she smiled and in a weak little voice
asked how I was doing. Hard to answer that question while choking
back tears and not wanting her to hear the sadness in my voice. Hard
to respond to a child who is dying, that I'm doing just fine.

The ceremony today was prompted by my department chair once she got
word that this student will not "make it" to the normal Class of 2008
graduation ceremony in June. So this special ceremony was put
together. Every member of our school board was there. Our district
superintendent was there. Three of our vice principals and numerous
other teachers and staff, along with out 30 of this child's family
members. They treated it as a real graduation ceremony and they
supplied refreshments afterward. I was so proud today to be a member
of this school district who came together for this one child and gave
her, not only her wish to graduate, but a ceremony that had all the
pomp and circumstance that it should have. The smile on her face as
she was handed her diploma was indescribable and unforgettable.

This 18 year old child's courage and determination in the face of all
that has happened and all that is to come. I have tried to shake off
the overwhelming need this evening to just cry, cry cry. I can't
share this with my own sons...or I don't want to...they take things to
heart. So I share it with you, my new RMAS friends. Today all my
worries are proven to be petty and meaningless. Can I get Milwaukee
tickets? Can I see Bruce again soon? Can I afford this...or that.
Doesn't mean a thing. I have the luxury of planning what I am going
to do this summer. I will have the luxury of hearing the next CD
Bruce puts out....of hearing, of seeing, of being. This child will
not.

I'm overwhelmingly sad tonight. Heavy heavy heart. Take a moment
tonight..tomorrow...next week...on behalf of this student...and just
hug the person nearest and dearest to you. Take the time to remind
yourself that most things we worry about...really are not that
important in the bigger scheme of things.

THanks for "listening."

Debbie


Oh Debbie,

What a beautiful and yet very sad post to read. I can't even imagine how difficult that ceremony must have been for just about everyone who attended, but what a special and wonderful gift for that girl.
There are some students at my son's school who amaze me every day with the courage and strength and spirit they show up to school with, students who sound not all that different from your student.
As a classroom mom, I get to spend lots of one-on-one time working with the students, and find that some of my most rewarding sessions often come from working with the kids who seem to have the most obstacles to overcome. These kids are fighters, and they take nothing for granted.
A good lesson for all of us.
.

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