This past Saturday was my most intense and rewarding day of the entire year. It was the 8th Grade Dinner and MS Awards Ceremony. Many hours and weeks of planning go into this one evening.
Each year the MS staff take the entire 8th grade class out to dinner to celebrate their accomplishment of "graduating" out of middle school. Beforehand I collect baby pictures and congratulatory notes from the 8th grade parents (some of whom have not seen their children in over a month) to share with the students. At the dinner, students find these notes at their places and enjoy seeing the slideshow of baby pictures. There are certainly a lot of laughs! It's one of our last moments with this class which we will soon be sending off into the new world of high school.
After we finish dinner we drive back to the high school where we join the rest of the middle schoolers and their families. These are the 90 minutes that I have thoroughly planned out for weeks now. We alternate between teacher tributes for 8th graders and special awards given to students. These awards are for achieving top grades, demonstrating perseverance, and encouraging other students. It's a great night celebrating all that we have seen in our students throughout the last 9 months.
While this night takes a lot of work printing awards, collecting notes/pictures, and decorating, I love seeing the end result each time. What a blessing it is to be a part of the middle school where we get to see such growth in our students from 6th through 8th grade. These 8th graders that are now moving on to high school were new to the middle school the same year I was. There have definitely been challenging times for this class over the past three years, but it has been so amazing to see them grow into the young men and women they are today.
I had the privilege of writing and reading a tribute for Luke. He joined our chapel band as a 6th grader and continued all three years of middle school (even when he was the only boy this year!). It has been such a joy to see him grow academically, musically (he is a fellow guitar player!), physically (he now towers over me!), and spiritually. It is evident that Luke loves Jesus and loves to live a life of worship. I look forward to seeing where God takes Luke in the future as he continues to follow Him.
Pictured below are Heather, Ruth, and I. Ruth was the first MS Principal I worked for (last two years) and is a fellow Albertan! She and her family will be moving to Central Asia in the fall to head up a school there. They will be greatly missed!
