Snapshots from graduations

 

Isn't this lovely? Handiwork of a UPCS grad

A series of mental snapshots from this week of Worcester Public Schools graduations:

• A chef, graduating Monday from the Adult Learning Center with his GED, telling the faculty there how much he appreciates, even if he didn't at the time, the messages and calls that got him back to class after late nights working.
• Women who have emigrated from Afghanistan, who I can remember greeting in the fall when Rep. McGovern toured the program, beaming as they crossed the stage at Fanning to the cheers of their families to gather their English as a Second Language certificates and kiss the superintendent and I on the cheek on the way.
• The pause in the ceremony every year at the Burncoat graduation, as seniors come down from the stage to play and sing with orchestra and quadrivium one more time. 
• The seniors who have worked out a handshake or other greeting with their procession/recession partner when they meet again to walk back out.
• The murmur of appreciation when Dr. Monárrez revealed at the Alternative School graduation that the poet she'd quoted was Tupac.
• The enthusiasm with which Dr. Kareem Tatum was greeted by former students at the same event; he had been their principal earlier in their educations.
• The valedictorian of University Park Campus School thanking his parents for bringing him to the United States from Vietnam when he was ten. 
• ...and the deadpan sense of humor with which he gently teased his teachers in his speech.

We aren't done yet! This week at the DCU at 6 pm: 

Monday: North

Tuesday: Tech

Wednesday: Doherty

Friday: South

...plus the Creamer Center graduates Tuesday at the Hanover Theater at 10 am!