Graduation Speech

There's an old Beatles song that begins:

"There are places I remember all my life,

Though some have changed

Some forever, not for better

Some have gone and some remain."

It seems to me, when we look back at our years at Thomas Middle School, we will have many of the same feelings.

Who can forget Rory getting stuck in a mudpit at Loredo Taft? Mr. G's inspired reading of "The Tell Tale Heart?" When Mr. B electrocuted the whole classroom? Or getting the chance to pie a teacher when we adopted a family at Christmas?

Certainly, we will remember these specifics and little flashes of others, like Kodak moments frozen in time, to return perhaps when we least expect them.

Arriving at Thomas the first day was chaotic, some would say. Others would say it was merely interesting, and some might even say it was fun, but I think we can all agree that it was different from what we'd known before. Gone was recess, sleeping until 8, walking to school, lighter homework loads, and that single teacher we'd spend the entire day with. These were replaced by foreign languages and creative arts, waking at 6:15, waiting at the bus stop with bigger kids who knew the territory and younger ones who were small and pitiful, two hours of homework and a multitude of new teachers with new expectations and ideas. We also had our new lockers and combinations to memorize along with our new schedules and to find a way to navigate those crowded halls without being late for class. We fit in by going our own way, joining yearbook or in my case, the musical, doing a schoolhouse rock version of Elvis Presley, meeting many of the older kids in the cast. For our little sixth grade minds, this might have seemed to be an overload, but we adjusted and we have enjoyed watching the new faces each year encountering the same bewildering scene.

Seventh grade was a little easier, because we were used to lockers and changing classes, and we felt more in control. We were no longer the smallest in the building, and were allowed to join school sports teams previously forbidden for mysterious reasons. The play that year was Hooray for Hollywood, and I toted my briefcase full of fleas across the stage, enjoying the laughter of the audience and the new friendships we were making. Our classes went to Loredo Taft, and Gamma enjoyed good weather while Delta was as wet as its namesake implies. Miss Kline will be thrilled that I remembered that term, I am sure.

8th grade was our big year here. Suddenly, we were the bosses of the school, hallways and busses, or so we imagined. We were all-powerful and in control of our lives. We got excited about our mock election which mirrored both Channel One and the national results. We were on every team, in every club and in every student government

position available. Some were in music, others in sports, and some industrial tech. I was the villain in the musical and we all will remember Beau conning his way through Iowa as the Music Man.

These middle school years have brought us many personal changes as well. Our parents give us more freedom than we had before. We have cell phones, we shop for ourselves, and we get to go trick-or-treating with our friends and without parental supervision. We have also reached puberty, which brings our attention to the opposite sex, and the loud, dark dances in the commons where we guys asked girls to dance for the first time. Many of us have even started dating that mysterious person at lunch who has been smiling