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| Courtney Graduation Day 25 June 2011 c. F E MT pics 6/11 |
Well, this past Saturday was a very "bittersweet" day. We watched our oldest daughter march in to that infamous graduation tune, played by the high school Wind Ensemble, "Pomp and Circumstance". I was a bit worried that the ceremony would seem a bit strange and formal because our high school cannot use the auditorium for graduation due to the fact that there isn't room for an audience! So, our school district has graduation at the SEFCU Arena down at the University of Albany. We were pleasantly surprised that graduation was so well done and intimate-seeming. There were 493 students in Courtney's senior class as of September 2010. On Saturday, 441 of those seniors marched across the stage to receive their diploma. Courtney received the Liberal Arts Diploma with High Honors and the Advanced Regents Diploma with Honors. We were very proud of her! She worked hard in the honors/university in the high school program and her work paid off! She is wearing the gold tassel on her cap to represent being in the National Honor Society, rather than the school tassle of blue and white (school colors).
When we watched her walk across the stage, I felt tears prick my eyes.....tears because her time with us is short now. Just a few more weeks and she'll be off in a dorm in New England, enjoying life at a Christian college.
Tears because the time flew by.....it seems like not that long ago that she was walking up little stairs to accept a PreK diploma from Preschool. And then the 6th grade diploma from her elementary school. And then handing us numerous awards from her 8th grade Awards Ceremony. Where did the last 17 years go??
She turns 18 in another couple of weeks.....it's a bittersweet blessing to see a child you have nurtured, loved, prayed for, and cried/laughed with, grow wings to fly......to fly towards a bigger goal, different home, and become more independent.
Many people told me I would be sad on her high school graduation day.... but I wasn't!
Instead, I was thrilled at her happiness....thrilled to see her and her other National Honor Society friends get their diplomas, thrilled to see the kids who struggled, walk across the stage with so many of us rooting for them...and thrilled to see the couple of special needs students accept their own diplomas and walk across the stage...heads held high...ready to fly......
5 comments:
Congratulations to Courtney.
It really is a bittersweet and thrilling time. Watching all the kids your child grew up with and went through school with at same place in their lives.
Yes it really was something, Susanne! I was sad to see that some kids we know didn't make it....that probably means they have to retake the Economics or Participation in Government class/regents again. Either that, or they skipped too much school to graduate. The sad thing is, a couple of them were expelled for having drugs on campus....so sad...but overall, all of her close friends graduated! and a new chapter begins...
Congratulations to your daughter! High school can be so challenging...but she made it through with flying colors. What a blessing she did so well and now she will go on to a Christian college!
Hi Rosie, thanks! she is glad she's done and looking forward to the new chapter in her life!
What an emotional time for you! Praying that your family will have time to make some special memories in the next few weeks before she heads off to college. :)
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