Graduation 2009

Whew. We made it. We survived Graduation 2009. Things went smoothly and everything went according to plan.

The ceremony was scheduled to begin at 4:00 o'clock and at 4:15 all the graduates were filing in. We had one little kindergarten graduate, four eighth grade grads and, Andrew, our lone high school graduate.

Here area ll the grads waiting for the ceremony to begin. Look how cute the little kindergartner is! She's so tiny compared to all those big boys.

Here is Jamaica, our kindergartner with her diploma. She did a great job this year and worked very hard. We were all amazed at her progress and everything she did.




After the kindergarten promotion it was Christina's turn to speak on behalf of each of the Junior High students.

After Christina's speech the staff members got up and talked about Andrew. Here is Andrew's mom having her turn talking about her son. It was pretty emotional for the both of them. I kept thinking of if my mom had to speak on my behalf at my high school graduation. I don't know if she would have gotten through her speech! Haha!


After Eliza's speech it was my turn to get up and speak about Andrew. I did ok...I only got choked up once and got through the speech without any major issues.

After my speech it was Andrew's turn to speak. He got pretty choked up during his speech. He did a great job though and again, he made me proud.



Chris said a few words and I came back down to present Andrew with his diploma. It was a great moment for me and I was so proud of him.

After that Chris presented the Qugcuun Memorial School Class of 2009!





The graduation ceremony was followed by a wonderful feast of home made bread, akutaq, short ribs, turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and a big huge salad. It was wonderful and the community did a hell of a job eating stuff up.

With bellies full we went back into the High School classroom to get about a million pictures taken with the grads.

Here's the Junior High.....



and the high school....



Andrew's mom, Eliza, made kuspeqs for her sons' teachers and here we are sporting them!



We then had a large group picture of all the ladies wearing their kuspeqs....

Andrew and I (both of us are relieved this is done!)...

Patrick, an eighth grade graduate and his little sister, Jamaica, our kindergarten graduate.

Andrew and his grandfather....



The staff all chipped in and got Andrew a nice tool set for his gift. He seemed to really like it.

Congratulations to Andrew and the rest of the students. I'm proud of you all. Andrew, I'm looking forward to seeing what you do the next chapter of your life.