Em N Ru: Last day/Graduation

My last day of school was today. We had a breakfast potluck which is one of the highlights of the school year. I brought a huge bowl of garlic/onion/herb home fries. The staff got to take our time eating, and then we entertained each other with joke prizes and humorous antecdotes about students, parents, and other staff. Bob, Stacey and I chose to sing the touching song "One Voice" by Wailin Jennies. We did pretty good. Here is a video of us rehearsing.

Stacey also shared some great stories in the "kids say the darndest things" genre.

After the delicious potluck breakfast with the staff I got to work lesson planning. Freddie came over with Ruben and his buddy Cameron and they had free lunch at Judson, while I carried boxes of stuff out to the car. After they left I spent some time thinking about science curriculum for next year, then I packed the rest of my things, turned in my keys, and went home.

I collapsed from exhaustion on the couch for two hours (with a great book), then got ready for Fred's graduation. When Fred moved to Salem two years ago he immediately enrolled at Chemeketa Community College. He graduated today with a 3.73 GPA and a huge smile. He got the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degree which allows him to transfer to any college in Oregon as a Junior. Although he was accepted at both OSU and Western he decided to take a year off to pursue scholarships and get work experience in schools. He's leaning toward teaching (focusing on science) but he has relatively little work experience with kids. I'm hoping he'll be able to find a job as an instructional assistant here in Salem, but time will tell.

Back to the graduation, it was held at the pavilion at the Oregon State Fairgrounds. Mom and Jeff drove up to witness Fred getting his name called and receiving his diploma. He was in the 13th row, and fortunately we were on the same side of the building. There were 900+ graduates so we sat for a long time and listened to a LOT of names. Here are a few things I noticed:

Short skinny girls tended to wear insanely high heels.
Chemeketa is a very diverse school.
There were many many many young children in the audience there to watch their parents graduate.

I don't think I've ever seen Freddie happier.