Es hora de Promocion (It’s Graduation Time)

The last month or so is my most hectic of the year between entrepreneurship competitions, final exams, and graduations. Unlike back home, the school year here is February to early December, and also the longest school year in the world. But when you take into account how often school gets canceled, it probably the shortest. Due to the timing of my arrival, and eventual departure, this is also the only full year I will have with a graduating class, so understandably the end of this academic year was a little emotional for me. After a year in the classroom, I had developed bonds with many students, and I was impressed to see just how many students I knew by name when I went to all of their graduations. I was both happy and nervous for them, as I saw them throw their caps into the air, the iconic symbol of ones graduation.

I was nervous because now, like a college graduate in the states, these kids were free to make their own decisions and chose their own path in life. They had graduated from my sphere of influence, and were now on their own. At least in class, I could help them and guide them through any problems they were having. The probability of any number of students coming to my house for advice is pretty slim. And at that age, how do you know what the right decision will be? It’s six years later for me, and I still don’t want the right decisions are to the big question: what’s next? But I forget at that at age, in your own eyes, you can do no wrong, because you’re invincible. Lit-rally. I guess at some point you just need to let your students or kids grow up, and make their decisions on their own. In a small way, I can understand how a parent feels sending their students off to college for the first time, and how it is such an emotional moment.

But I was simultaneously happy because for many, their graduation may just well be the most successful day in their lives. Living in remote areas, the lack of resources and a small job market mean most of them are destined to life in the la Villa, and that isn’t anything to aspire to. Even those who go on to graduate from the University aren’t guaranteed a good job; I know a few folks who have Nicaraguan law degrees, but instead drive taxi’s because the market is so saturated. But this weekend the students weren’t thinking about their futures. They were focused on the present where they were linked arm in arm with their fellow classmates, singing their graduation songs, with the whole community clapping and cheering them on. They were grinning from ear to ear, and to borrow another line from my new favorite book, they were infinite. And that was enough reason to be happy and emotional for my students.

***For any Richmond 2010 grads reading, I was inspired to find and re-read Arne Duncan’s (the Secretary of Education) commencement speech. To be honest, I hardly remembered it. But it’s an interesting take on education in America, take a look:http://www2.ed.gov/news/speeches/2010/05/05092010.html