Before I dive into the Washington DC & New York trip that the 8th grade just came back from I wanted to share about an end of a decade plus one.
ELEVEN YEARS... That's how long Emily has been attending KHA and this is the day we have been waiting for!!
GRADUATION DAY!!
Preschool and 8th Grade Portrait
This past Saturday was KHA's 8th Grade Graduation Ceremony.
19 students graduated that day
Emily gave the Salutatorian Address to her classmates.
You can hear her address here:
It was amazing to see that 11 years ago before school started, I was having a parent-teacher conference telling her preschool teachers about Emily's selective mute anxiety issues.
And here she is speaking in front of not only her classmates but to the school board, faculty, parents, and friends.
As a part of the ceremony, each graduating student also got the opportunity to read a Tribute Letter they wrote to their parents. Afterwards Christine Ingebretson, FCC's Women's Minister and this class' Bible teacher (for 6th and 7th grades) gave the Commencement Address. She encouraged the students to "Have Courage and Be Kind" as they enter into high school.
You can read parts of her excellent speech to the kids here on her blog: Commencement Addresss
Special thank yous go to Don who videoed and Kenny who took pictures of the ceremony.
And since Emily started KHA in Preschool we, her parents, were given the honor of giving her her diploma on stage.
Lots of our family came to support Emily:
Her Goong Goong and Popo (my parents)
Her Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah (Matthew's parents)
Her E-Ee and E-Jeung and her cousins Daniel, Joshua and Zachy (my sister and her family)
Her Kau Kau and Auntie Hilda (my brother and sister-in-law)
Her Goo-Jeh and Goo-Jeung and cousins, Marissa and Timothy (Matthew's sister and her family)
Extended family also came:
Auntie Cheryl, Uncle Don, Mandy and Kyle (my cousin and her family) along with my Auntie Doris (not pictured)
We also wanted to honor all her teachers and invited them to the graduation and a lunch. Here are a few that came:
Mrs. Stevenson her Junior Kindergarten teacher
Mrs. Choy her 1st Grade teacher
Mrs. Kao her 2nd grade teacher
Mrs. Scott her 6th Grade teacher
....along with Mrs. Ingebretson, her 6th and 7th grade Bible teacher.. who was also the Commencement Speaker at the graduation!
Some good friends came to cheer her on..
Jessica left after Kindergarten
Shawna (left) left after 6th grade and Jennifer (center) left after 4th grade
Bryan is the only classmate that has been in the same class with Emily for 10 years...
Caryn is Emily's twin buddy
Pairing up for Twin Day for the past four years!
Emily even squeezed into the Band Group Photo even though she did not perform. Too busy graduating and the only 8th grader in Band!
Mr. Bolivar her Band Director for the past 5 years
Congratulations to the Class of 2015!
5 comments:
valerie c.
said...
can't believe the little sweetie-pie that we met and knew our first years at FCC is going into high school! love the band photo!!! Emily has grown into a beautiful, fearless young woman. (congrats to mom and dad)
I love this! What a treasure. How amazing to see Emily grow from a little one with anxiety and selective mutism to the one who addressed this large crowd. Thank you Lord!!!! Love the pictures of her with her teachers when she was little and then on her graduation day. This is really beautiful Cezanne! Congratulations Emily!!
Congrats to Emily as she finished middle school and heads toward public high school. I know that she has a firm foundation, and I pray that she will blossom and grow in the coming years of high school. I always love seeing what’s going on in Emily and Hannah’s lives. Great blogging, Cez. No one does it like you. Marj
I love reading this blog. It is amazing to see KaYen standing in front of the whole school and guests to give out a speech. She did a great job! Well rehearse too! I still remember 15 years ago when she was just born, she was so small even couldn't drink from the bottle , parents had to use the dropper to feed her milk! We pray for her well adjustment in high school !
5 comments:
can't believe the little sweetie-pie that we met and knew our first years at FCC is going into high school! love the band photo!!! Emily has grown into a beautiful, fearless young woman. (congrats to mom and dad)
I love this! What a treasure. How amazing to see Emily grow from a little one with anxiety and selective mutism to the one who addressed this large crowd. Thank you Lord!!!! Love the pictures of her with her teachers when she was little and then on her graduation day. This is really beautiful Cezanne! Congratulations Emily!!
Oh I just love how you always match the pictures with an archival one. Great memories. What an honor to see Emily graduate.
Congrats to Emily as she finished middle school and heads toward public high school. I know that she has a firm foundation, and I pray that she will blossom and grow in the coming years of high school. I always love seeing what’s going on in Emily and Hannah’s lives. Great blogging, Cez. No one does it like you.
Marj
I love reading this blog. It is amazing to see KaYen standing in front of the whole school and guests to give out a speech. She did a great job! Well rehearse too! I still remember 15 years ago when she was just born, she was so small even couldn't drink from the bottle , parents had to use the dropper to feed her milk! We pray for her well adjustment in high school !
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