The Chronicles Of Nay

Good morning, I hope that everyone is doing well. I woke up on what should be the first Saturday of summer vacation thinking that it is crazy that it is already the end of May. With the end of May you know what that means, the end of the school year.  This is generally the time of year that we are so busy with end of the year shenanigans. My weekends should have been filled with volleyball, graduation parties, graduations, and end of school parties. Usually at school we are packing up our classrooms, we are handing out yearbooks, we are doing awards ceremonies, and we are saying our goodbyes. However this year was so different. 

I usually spend the last couple weeks of school throwing away papers that I don’t need, but have accumulated. I try to organize workspaces. I throw away what’s left of the consumable textbooks. I take down bulletin boards. You realize by “I” I mean I supervise and send the kids down in shifts to the dumpsters! Haha I try to get ideas set into motion for the following year. This year I “packed” up my classroom in 6 hours. Basically I put everything I could into every box I could find. None of the normal organization happened. The students didn’t get to take home their journals or some of the projects they were working on before spring break. It was a strange way to end the year. 

This year I didn’t get to finish the yearbook because I was missing so many pictures. I didn’t even get student portraits done. Yes, I was a little behind however I didn’t expect that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to finish after spring break. This would have been my 10th yearbook. Next year will have to be my 10th. I have some pretty big plans for 10th the book. I will start working on it day 1! Haha I failed them this year and I feel bad but going forward I can do better. 

The end of the year is always filled with award ceremonies. I love them just as much as the students and parents. It is a time to show off the students that are awesome, the students that are quiet. A time to tell the parents “Your kid is a good kid!” I love the most improved awards every year! Those are the kids that are turkeys and they tend to show you their better side throughout the year. They are also the kids whose parents are the proudest! Always makes my heart happy. I also love seeing the kids all dressed up and with that little smile that says they are proud of themselves yet they don’t want their friends to know that. 

I said goodbye to my students back at the beginning of March the way I normally send them away for a weekend or a one week break. It was a different goodbye, it was just a “Be good, have fun and see you in a week!” kind of a goodbye. Not the goodbye that I say to my kids at the end of the year. The goodbye that says “you are awesome and I believe that you are going to do great things!” The kind of goodbyes that I hope shows them that I believe in the people that they can become. 

Another goodbye that was very hard to face is all the people retiring from our campus. They are people that have been at Rosemont for so long. I have worked with all of them since I started at Rosemont. They have had such an influence on the teacher and the person that I have become. When I started at Rosemont I was right out of college and coming to a new place not knowing a soul. I looked (and still look) up to them. I could not possibly tell you everything I have learned from all of the ladies retiring. But here are some of the big lessons that they taught me. Tammy showed me to always be myself, be who I am fully. Paige reminds me that sometimes I need to take a step back and look at it from the students perspective, or at least talk to the kid and hear them out. Debra showed me that so much of education is the relationships you build with students. Kathy showed me that you don’t always have to tell people how smart you are, just be who you are and people will recognize your wisdom. And Karen taught me to love with all your heart! It was so hard closing up school today, walking away from these ladies and not hugging them. Or not having a party or celebration to celebrate all the years of awesomeness! 

Next year is going to be a very different year. These ladies will be missed on our campus for sure. There will be some very large shoes to fill in all of their positions. I am sad to see them go but I am very happy for them to start the next chapter of their lives! I leave you ladies with a few words (that I stole from other retirees and principals that gave speeches at retirement parties) Rosemont 6 is the best place to leave, and remember once a Colt… always a Colt. We will miss you ladies and I look forward to the day we can celebrate and I can give you all a hug! Rosemont 6 will miss you, but remember we like visitors and we are always down for a potluck!