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Eli’s 8th grade graduation
It’s one of those American milestones: 8th grade graduation! The kids–mostly 14 and 13 years old (for those of you not in the US to have an idea) finish their “lower and middle school” years to go on to High School. This past week-plus has been very hectic with dances, parties, end-of-year activities, graduation and all that! I won’t subject you to ALL the photos–just a lot of them, GRIN! I’ll try to tell the story in the captions:
Festivities began the night before graduation at Harper’s house, where her mom invited a bunch of Harper’s friends for a quick supper before the traditional 8th Grade Dance at the Yacht Club on the harbor. Eli is at the far right….wearing dad’s suit and his feet squished into Paul’s too-small-for-Eli shoes.
Asst. Principal Matt Smith is also an accomplished singer and musician. He played for the first part of the dance…I’d buy a CD!
Eli and good friend and wrestling-team co-captain Hilary went to the dance together…they look fabulous!
I guess every year the teachers and staff let the parents come for the first half hour of the 7-10 pm dance to take pictures, including the requisite all of the boys, all of the girls, and the entire 8th grade class:
The Boys of the Class of 2012–Eli is on the right about halfway back
The girls of the Class of 2012
The Camden-Rockport Middle School Class of 2012—just LOVE these kids!
And all the parents and teachers and staff on the lawn taking the photographs!
Left to right: Nate Dunton, Eli Smith, Jake Chamberlain, Principal Maria Libby, Taylor Crosby, and Laszlo Steinhoff
The start of the “Promotion” ceremony (why they call it that instead of Graduation I’m not sure, but it’s really the same thing) in the Gym. Matt Smith, Asst. Principal, gave the opening remarks.
The 8th Grade Vocal Ensemble sings, did a great job on the song (after Eli said he thought it was the best they had sung it!). Eli is just to the left of the tallest boy in the back row.
One boy and one girl each gave an address (and did great!), there was music by the choral ensemble and one of the students, then Principal Maria Libby gave a wonderful address.
Eli (wearing Paul’s fancy double breasted blue blazer which is only a little too big) looks natty and grown up as he shakes hands and receives his promotion certificate from Maria Libby and Matt Smith.
At the dance I snagged Eli and Kienan Brown. They were in first grade together and have been friends on the soccer team (school and travel / league!). Told them I want to do this again in 4 years and then in 8 years…. will enjoy every minute of the intervening years, but will look fondly on them maturing into fine young men.
After the promotion ceremony, I snagged Eli and his friends Kyle and Ben Winchenbach—Ben was in Mrs. Baker’s first grade class with Eli, and the twins were his first friends here in Camden. They’ve been friends ever since, and Eli and Ben have been on the wresting team together as well as Cross Country and Track.
At home in his usual dress, Eli unwraps his gifts, including Cross Country running spikes (the lime and orange ones on the left) for the upcoming season in high school.
We moved to Maine for a great education for our boys, and we succeeded. In the ceremony, Principal Maria Libby said this 8th grade class had the highest reading scores (on the statewide test) in the ENTIRE state of Maine! When we arrived in summer of 2004, Joshua was starting 5th grade at CRMS. We’ve had first Joshua, then Eli, in school there ever since. It is hard to believe we won’t be making the trek down Knowlton Street daily any more….GULP (lump in throat). A huge thanks to the teachers and staff — and to the kids. We are so glad we are here! Next: summer vacation!
June 16th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
This post warmed my heart and made me smile! Congrats to Eli and all his classmates. My favorite pic was the one of Eli and Hilary.
D~~~~
June 16th, 2012 at 10:37 pm
Ah,yes–8th grade graduation. I remember mine was around D-Day … It is still a notable milestone. Congrats to Eli for making it this far and best wishes for his continued successes and to you and Paul for raising such a fine young man.
June 17th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Congratulations to Eli for his many successes. And to you and your husband also for your support in all his endeavors.
June 18th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
Great post and pics! As a teacher attending many middle school “promotions,” we were told several years by the “higher ups” that we could no longer call it “graduation,” because that signaled the “end,” and the kids were by no means finished with their education. Promotion signifies moving on to more. “Course, when I “graduated” from 8th grade, it was a time period when for many of the students it was the end of their formal education. Just a little bit of educational trivia!!
June 25th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
This post put a big smile on my face and some heart twisting cause my “baby” is 16 and finished school a couple of weeks ago. The prom thing is imported and I left Sam dressed in his new black suit and white shirt with his friends and had to drive over to a close friend of mind, not to start weeping hard 😉 Here the finishing the 9th grade is graduation, since most go on to higher education called gymnasiet which lays the ground for university and such.
A big hug to Eli and his marvelous parents!!