Eighth Grade Graduation @ Saipan Community School

Dear Friends, Family, and Readers:
This is my blog about the end of my year at Saipan Community School. I have much more to say in future blogs about Taste of the Marianas, a local poetry reading contest of a local poet (now deceased) my students will be taking part in coming up, and my progress in creating a bible devotional book for outdoorsmen. Kara has said that before I do that, however, she will write a blog entry about the end of her school year. So, there is still much to say about our time in the C.N.M.I.; I guess you could say it is something to look forward to.
The end of my school year was one of joy and sadness. The eighth grade graduation was held at the Saipan Multi-Purpose Center. I never had a middle school graduation and did not know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. First, the joys of finishing the year in ceremony were many for students, parents, and teachers. Joys included many awards given, a chance to see the culmination of hard work ending in graduation, and a chance to see students sad yet excited to move on to the next step in their lives. Awards ranged from graduating with honors (3.5-4.0 from 6th-8th grade), A & B Honor Roll for 4th Quarter, Perfect Attendance (8th grade year), Loyalty Award (students who have been at the school since kindergarten), President’s Academic Achievement Award (silver and gold), Ukulele Elite Award, and the perhaps most coveted Citizenship Award (I say most coveted because the teachers pick this particular student). I particularly enjoyed the keynote speech by our maintenance man, Rommel Tisejo. I enjoyed it not for eloquent speaking abilities, but from the simple yet true analogy of relating life to the structure of a house. The questions he asked of the 8th graders were good questions to ask and I pray that those students took them to heart and consider them as the go on to Saipan Southern High School, Marianas High School, or some other institution (perhaps one in their home country).
The sadness of graduation was not that I missed all of my eighth grade students, but rather that many of the student given speeches by both the Salutatorian & Valedictorian mentioned how the eighth grade class got into trouble a lot and misbehaved frequently. This is all true, of course, but I was saddened that throughout the year the behavior had not been adjusted as it could have been if students had listened more and not talked back to teachers at our school. My prayer for all the students at S.C.S. is that they know how much we care about them despite the difficult situations they put themselves in by their behavior. I did receive a few parent comments later thanking me for talking with them about behavioral issues and keeping them in the loop. That made my day as a teacher. I, along with other junior high teachers, was given a rose from an eighth grade student and had a photo opportunity with another 6’1 eighth grader who has a special place in my memory.
Lastly, the day after graduation I had a party with my seventh grade homeroom in which they brought food to be shared after chapel. It was a fun time, half-way through the party, however, many of the students left to go play dodge ball, which is a great way to end the year and I was allowed a few moments of reflection in my classroom. After students had left, all the staff were taken out to eat by the pastor and his wife to a restaurant called Gentle Brook. There were two cakes after the meal to eat, one was a fruit cake and another was a cake donated by a grateful parent who wanted to thank us all. We are truly blessed to be at S.C.S. and the various cultures that make up our school have given me a lot of insight into being a teacher. The funniest thing was a gift I was given by one of my Korean students, a 4 GB hard drive…to think it used to be an apple! Enjoy the pictures I have posted.
Sincerely, Grant

Pictures are:
1. Picture of the fruit cake (yummy) we ate at while Gentle Brook restaurant. The pastor was kind in buying a cake for the celebration and Gentle Brook's manager was nice enough to keep it in the fridge while we ate.
2. Picture of my kids going through the line of food in my classroom.
3. A picture of me with my eighth grader kind enough to bring flowers for us teachers.
4. A picture of Kara play dancing with one of her students after graduation.