End of Year Things

We met up with Grandma and Grandpa for breakfast Saturday morning to give Cora her gifts - she was too worn out to do it Friday night. You can see she's still a bit tired here. 

She later went to Logan's house to play D&D, and went again on Sunday.

Stace rewatched the Star Wars movies on Saturday, while Violet was unfortunately getting sick. 

On Saturday afternoon, Dinorah invited over several of us moms with graduating seniors, to catch up and reminisce. 
 

It was lovely, especially with catching up with some ladies I hadn't seen in a while.

On Sunday, Stace and I went to Glendale to Ellie's dance recital, and after, we all went to a nearby Foster's Freeze for a snack. I was excited to get a chocolate-dipped cone, since they're now hard to find up here in SClarita.

On Monday morning, I met up with a number of parents and graduating seniors at their elementary school. Other schools do this, and this is the first year it's happened here - the graduates are invited back for a special ceremony, to honor them and to give the elementary kids an example to aspire to.

We're holding signs with our kid's 6th grade photo! Such a sweet gesture.

 The students were introduced to the whole school at the weekly morning ceremony, and then got to spend some time playing on the playground. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if they were wearing their caps and gowns, as I've seen happen at other schools. But, Cora's old high school hadn't graduated yet, and the students didn't actually have their gowns!

It was great seeing these ladies again... 

...and these students, all grown up! I knew many of these kids so well just six years ago.

*Don't bother looking for Cora in there - she didn't go. She isn't nostalgic or social, and she was well into her summer schedule of sleeping well past the 8:00 meeting time here.

Also this week, Violet's freshman year came to an end! She did very well in her grades and is glad to be on break, too. Especially since she spent much of the week feeling ill.

Our Graduate

Graduation Day!

In America, high school graduation represents the culmination of 13 years of education, along with entry into adulthood, as most graduates have turned 18, or are turning 18 soon.

There's the cap and gown and speeches and well wishes and bouquets and Pomp and Circumstance playing (over and over) as the students walk into the event and find their seats. 

There's a stadium full of people, the National Anthem, a long list of names and the traditional moving of the cap tassel from the right side to the left, as the ceremony ends. 

It's a milestone, and I'm so grateful Cora took part in this monumental senior year event. 

She got to walk in and sit next to her friend Carys, which was special. Carys's mom serves as an unofficial school photographer, so she was on the ground getting some amazing photos.

We were in the stands, cheering and yelling for Cora when we could finally spot her in the line coming in. Grandpa brought his good equipment, and got the below photo when she looked up and caught our eyes.

Here is Cora, getting her diploma and shaking hands with Dr. Cherise Moore, a school district board member.

And here she is, high-fiving Mr. Fisher, the school's amazing principal. I wish I'd gotten a photo of them together after the ceremony - I really enjoyed working with him these past two years.

Melanie took this sweet pic of me and Stace.

The ceremony was great - with several speeches and all the graduates' names, it was still finished in an hour! 

I watched the online ceremony for Cora's old school, since I know so many families there, and it was an hour and 40 minutes - glad ours was more succinct.

Favorite teacher, no contest.

Cora and Rowan, and Lucas, who has one more year of high school.

Theatre Banquet

 Cora ended her high school theatre experience with a lovely banquet on Friday. Given the importance of theatre in her life, this was really a more momentous event than graduation itself, which comes next week. 

I helped with setup, and we all later helped with cleanup. We had yummy Stone Fire for dinner in a dressed-up cafeteria, and then the awards ceremony in the auditorium.

For the first time, Violet came to the banquet, given it was Cora's senior year and a special event for the family. She hung out with Cora and her friends the whole night and had a great time. 

It's too bad they couldn't have gone to the same school this past year. (Well, they could have, but Vi chose the other school because her friends were going there...I digress...)

The whole group (I think!) pre-awards ceremony

All the seniors were given lighthearted recognition by their peers. Mackenzie gave Cora hers, an award for being not just good, but good enough. Cora used the same phrase as her yearbook senior quote.

We also watched a sweet tribute video for the seniors, with lots of behind the scenes footage from Percy Jackson.

Cora was awarded honor cords and the master thespian stole for graduation, for accruing the most points in their International Thespian Society troupe, with 325. Each point represents 10 hours in theatre work, be that in class, rehearsal, set-building, outside theatre work, etc. Yes, that's a heck of a lot of hours. I've joked that Cora majored in theatre in high school, but it wasn't really a joke.

The graduating honored members of the International Thespians Society.

Cora gave out the Reliability award, which she had won last year.

Then, the big awards - Crew Person of the Year and Performer of the Year.

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Jarod said in his speech, "Every now and again a student walks through the door, and right away, they just have it. There's an instinct, an innate ability to understand all of it - what to say, how to say it, how to feel authentically," he said. "They know where to go without needing blocking; they create characters in such a real way, you ask, are they acting? We've enjoyed so many characters from this theatre artist. Looking back, there's already a career in place. ...

"This is the kind of student that when they graduate, you're not asking 'If,' but 'When?' For me personally, this is bittersweet because their four years has been my four years (as a classroom teacher). It's indeed going to be a challenge to see them go, but man, am I excited to see what happens when they do. 

"This person has worked on stage, behind the stage, in the booth, in the shop, and their question, "What can we do to make it better?" has echoed my own thoughts time and time again. Indeed a Master Thespian, this year's Performer of the Year is Cora."

Jarod didn't name off all of her roles - especially since half of them were directed by him at another school. But this girl has killed it as Jordan (Great Gatsby), Rosencrantz, Brooke Windam (Legally Blonde), Vera Claythorne (And Then There Were None), Megan (Puffs), Velma Kelly, Our Town's Stage Manager and Percy Jackson himself. 

And for competitions, she won awards for portraying MacBeth and Hamlet, and one of Henry VIII's wives in Six.

Watching Cora perform has been one of my highlights as a parent. I'm sad to see this stage come to an end ... but of course excited to see which stage she performs on next.

Jarod also gave some volunteer awards, and gave me a special recognition for four years of stepping up in whatever way needed. 

I was even given an honorary membership in their International Thespian Society Troupe.

Thanks to Grandpa for taking many of the photos here! 

Post awards photos!

Rowan, Lucas, Mackenzie and Cora - a great group of hard-working actors and young people.

Volunteer mamas!

Love these two with all my heart!

Week in Review

 Violet took part in another hiking club event with her online school. Her supervising teacher is the hiking club leader, so it was nice for Vi to connect with her outside of the regular school meetings.

They walked Wednesday at the Placerita Waterfall Trail.

I dropped Violet off and then went a mile up the road to the nature center, where I read and enjoyed the view. There were even poppies! Love seeing them bloom.

On Thursday, Cora had her last full day of high school - really, her last full day of normal school ever, after 13 years! Goodness.

(She went to school Friday too, but only for the one after lunch class.)

Thursday was the last day of getting up early for an 8:30 start, bringing a lunch, staying all day. 

She took tea and her yearbook to get signatures.

The last school lunch I'll ever pack!

Not the greatest example, but there at least were apple slices and a homemade muffin. 

We all enjoyed flipping through her final high school yearbook.

The big senior - with the fancy photo and yearbook quote and everything.

I went out and met with friends Thursday night for dinner and drinks. A local (nice) place has a GREAT Happy Hour where you can eat and drink well for not a lot of cash.

We were celebrating two birthdays, so I organized the gifts and made two bouquets. Perhaps I've learned something from being around Mel and her weddings all these years.