Thursday 8 December 2016

Graduation Season part II

This is our second (and last…what??!) round of graduations. I am really not very good at good-byes and endings. So the end of the school year, saying good-bye to the seniors, and the thoughts of the end of our term has made this past week a bit emotional for me! It’s just another reminder of how quickly our time has gone here. I know we won’t be leaving until the middle of next year, but I can’t help feeling the weight of those good-byes already. But enough of those sad emotions for now… it has been a very happy and celebratory week. Our students have graduated from Pre-school, 6th grade and from high school! It was fun to experience a wide range of graduations ceremonies (although EVERY one included the “graduation march song” on repeat at least 10 times…we have been dreaming with this soundtrack in the background…)

Last Thursday, Kyle and I divided and conquered. I attended the Quebrada de Agua graduation where I help on Monday and Tuesday. I celebrated with 3 awesome, intelligent 6th graders and my favorite teacher profesora Maria :) Kyle headed up the hill and out into the reserve to La Garnacha where we clean veggies on Thursdays and teach an elementary English class.

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Quebrada de Agua’s Graduation was in the school house. I helped make the banner.

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Two 6th grade graduates, and a pre-school sister graduating.

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Prof Maria and I. She was the MC of the event and I ran the music :) I think we make a pretty good team!

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Our three 6th grade graduates!

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The graduates of 2016-Pre school and 6th grade!

DSC04306On Friday, I attended the primary and pre-school graduation in town at the catholic church. I went to support all the students we see walking to school everyday(about fifteeen 6th graders), but most definitely to see our “host sister” graduate from pre-school. Serling is part of the family that we lived with for the first few weeks we lived here in town. She gave us a very direct and QUICK introduction to Spanish. She didn’t have much patience for our slow understanding of Spanish at the age of 4 and when we asked her to slow down, it just seemed like she sped up! :) She is such a sweetheart and we love that family, so we were excited to celebrate her promotion with her and give her a special gift, too!
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Friday night, we helped clean and organize the church for the high school graduation the next day. It was a lot more fun this year, because it felt like we knew more of what to expect and we were able to be more helpful/useful to the director and the teachers.

On Saturday, the high school graduations! We watched 22 daily students graduate with the bachelors degree and 54 Saturday students graduate with their bachelors. It was a really exciting day. A common theme throughout all these graduations are the speeches about being thankful for the educational opportunities these students have access to. They often say, fifteen years ago you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in this area with a even a high school diploma, but now you can find students in university and individuals holding college degrees. We really hope this message resonates with these students, as much as some of them see opportunities elsewhere (going to the states, working on the family farm…), we totally believe in the value of education for these students. We know it’s not the answer for each individual, but if just a handful end up going on to get a degree and a job that follows that will send huge ripple effects throughout these communities. We always love what our school director says: “Educacion: La unica cosa que nadie puede tomar de vos” // “Education: The one thing no one can take away from you”

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The graduation mural. Another piece by Allison :) But really guys…I am getting pretty good at cutting out letters and pasting them in  straight line!

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The parade of graduates walking into town to arrive at the church! So many proud students and parents.

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Some of the graduates

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I helped run the music/sound system and got to sit by this cool dude!

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Graduates Galore!

It was also really neat to see one of our favorite teachers at the high school be recognized at the ceremony for his 35 years of service to the ministry of education. He is definitely a highlight in our days at the school and is a wonderful educator and friend! We were so excited that he was recognized in this way. We were also recognized with a certificate recognizing our solidarity with the community and the school. That was also a nice surprise, especially with the news that we will be the last volunteers from VMM in San Nicolas (see this post: VMM Organizational Update).

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Juan Jose: 2016 teacher of the year!

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The MC’s Prof Elvin and Prof Idalia

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With the school director, Prof. Idalia

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Photo op with a few other teachers

We had a great time celebrating with all the students and families who achieved another great success in their educational journeys!

What I’ve been writing in all my graduation cards and notes to the students: Nunca dejes de aprender! // Never stop learning!

Love.

2 comments:

  1. Felicidades a todos los estudiantes! Love seeing all these familiar faces. A++ on the banner-making!

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  2. Great celebrations for great students! And yes, your banner-making skills will take you far. :)

    ReplyDelete