It’s hard to believe it, but today some of my former 5th graders graduated from high school!

They grow up so fast. It feels like 8 years went by so quickly, and I marvel at the wonderful adults they’ve become.

5th Grade Fun (back in 2005)

Back in 5th grade (2005), wearing balloon hats, of course.

Today, celebrating college plans and new beginnings

Today at Graduation!

It’s amazing that I leave for Japan in two days, because one of the special graduates that we celebrated today is surely Japan’s #1 Biggest Fan. Teddy has always loved Japan, as long as I can remember.

Me and Teddy at Prom a few weeks ago (don’t worry — he had a better date than me)

He started learning the Japanese language by watching car commercials on YouTube, but his passion for all things Japanese escalated quickly. When he was in 5th grade, we were lucky to have a student in the class who was half Japanese and used to give him lessons during our reading time, SSR. Today, 8 years later, Teddy sat with me at a graduation party tutoring me so that I am prepared for my trip. In the fall he will go to college to study voice performance, and all of us at IACS couldn’t be more proud. Teddy is one of the most kind, enthusiastic, curious people I’ve ever met.

Sometimes our growth is subtle, and we have to try really hard to see it. At the beginning of this year, my current class and I used a piece of blue painting tape to mark off a line showing the height of all of the students. On Friday, we got to see how much we’ve grown.  Believe me — there’s a lot of growth that you can’t see in this picture. And I can only imagine what these students will be doing at their high school graduation…. just around the corner, I’m sure.

Congratulations Homebase Salk 2013-2014!