Being a high school choral director, I have the pleasure of getting to know my students over the span of four years. It's such an amazing experience to really watch them grow and develop into such inspiring young adults.
This year's group of seniors, the class of 2011, were particularly inspiring to me in my career. First off, it was a gigantic class (I graduated 28 from the choral program - that's well over 10% of the graduating class . . . probably closer to 25%)! Secondly, they were especially enthused and motivated in their vocal and theatrical endeavors. Most importantly, I feel as though I really had the opportunity to "grow up" with this class, as they were freshmen when Jon and I got married (some of them even sang with our church choir at our wedding) and were VERY involved in my pregnancy with Evelyn. [Seeing me directing our production of Grease while in my third trimester probably served as some of the best birth control for any high schooler to witness - I was a very cranky lady.] They have been so involved in our lives that Evelyn always refers to them as "Mommy's kids."
Needless to say, it was very difficult to watch them graduate.
I had watched (and many a-time counseled them through) these kids overcome typical teenage growing pains (i.e. first dates, bad test grades, break-ups, familial frustrations). I had also been deeply involved in many atypical, and sometimes very serious, issues, including my one student's intense battle with cancer. [By the way - Nick has been CANCER-FREE since the end of November!!!!!!!!! Thank you, Lord!]
ANYWAY!
I found a lovely surprise left by a few of these special students in our department's office. . . .
I share an office with a very dear colleague and friend, Heather (our band director). A few years ago, she thought it would be cool to hang a corkboard where we could display any senior portraits that our students gave us.
Well! This corkboard has never been taken down by either Heather or myself since it was initially hung in 2009 but a student of ours recently started dropping hints to us that he and a few of his friends left a surprise in the office. Boy, did we search EVERYWHERE for this "surprise!" I mean, we had to clean the office out before our summer recess so we thought for sure that we would've uncovered said surprise at some point. Having found nothing out of the ordinary, the student hinted to Heather that the surprise was somehow associated with the corkboard. We pulled it off the wall, and this is what we uncovered . .
Professions of their gratitude in rainbow chalk!
So sweet and so representative of just how special these students are!
Thanks for making my life so lovely, Class of 2011!
