Nate had his 8th grade graduation yesterday. In the past 5 days, I have attended three different 8th grade celebrations and one high school graduation.
I can tell you that Nate's was very different from the other three I attended. At the other ceremonies, awards were given. There were no awards given out at Nate's graduation. At some of the ceremonies, there was always the question, "Where are you going in the fall?". At Nate's ceremony, no one asked that question. All 12 kids were going to the "High School" hallway at Southview. At the other three celebrations, some students were chosen to speak. At Nate's, some of the graduates can not speak. The other ceremonies were at least an hour long and full of traditions. Yesterday, the ceremony lasted 15 minutes and was very casual.
While there were many startling differences between Nate's graduation and the other ones, there was also one distinct similarity.....proud families. We knew that our students at Southview didn't meet the "academic requirements" to graduate from the 8th grade. We also know that our students don't have the same futures as the students from the other ceremonies. However, that doesn't make our child's graduation any less important. In our hearts, they are just as smart and capable as the other kids. In our hearts, their accomplishments are just as important. In our hearts, our kids are just as important.
We celebrated Nate's graduation. We had 5 family members and 6 members of his team attend. All 11 of us were very proud to see Nate walk across that stage (with little verbal prompting) and receive his certificate.
