Life is sweet. Kinda. Sorta. :D
Things have been nice and easy. Lots of free time on my hands. I played UT2K4 with Jinxxy and Alex today... was fun. :)
As promised, here's my speech:
Everyone here had better get very comfortable. This… is the big one. My reign as BMOC is over, and I need some time to process it. ;)
Eileen wouldn’t have me walk across this stage without having made some sort of speech, so I figured I’d write this ahead of time.
Let me be totally honest and saccharine for a moment, and just say that this place has TRULY saved me. I was not at all happy at my first high school. It was so… big, and scary. Everything about it seemed imposing. There were a few good friends I had there, but for the most part, there wasn’t anything in the day I really had to look forward to except an all-encompassing sense of dread.
This was obviously not the place for a student who was newly diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders.
I’m not going into the history of my time there, but staying at that place had really worsened my spirits. I spent about three months at home, occasionally venturing out to see whether I had the guts to walk up to the double-doors and go to school. Almost every time, I ran back to the car, bawling.
We all thought it was time for an intervention.
A group of administrators from my old school, my parents, and myself, sat at a table in the library, discussing alternative placement for me. The only school that Chicago Public Schools could come up with for me was a place out in La Grange Highlands, called “Acacia Academy”.
Took a couple weeks off to gather myself, get ready to start going to school again, and then I took the tour and testing routine that everyone else has when they’ve entered Acacia. That was 5 years ago, this past March. Already, I could tell things were going to be different. The classes were more laid-back. My classmates weren’t bouncing off of the walls. There were a lot of creative minds, like mine. School became… fun, again. (Yeah, I know, how did THAT happen?!)
There were a lot of setbacks through my time here, but people were just so supportive. If I fell back down, they picked me right back up again. If I was having a bad day, they always wanted to know what was causing it and if they could help to make it better. And the good days were almost celebrations.
Yes, I had a hard time staying here, too. There were all sorts of interesting characters throughout my stay. A lot of them were friendly, and I never let one rotten apple spoil the bunch. At least, I hope not!
Here comes the acknowledgements, and trust me, there are a lot of them.
First and foremost, I’d like to thank my family for being a true blessing, always encouraging, and following up on their words. You guys get an extra treat at the end.
Thank you, faculty of Acacia, especially Jim, who taught me just about every subject but English. No matter how much I fell behind, he never lost faith that I could catch up. So long, and thanks for all the fish. There’s Jeanine Makris, who had given me countless breaks on certain assignments, and who I would even call a friend, as I’d sit here later in the day and talk with her as I caught up on past-due work. There’s Carol McDonald, Queen of the Universe, who never gave up on a certain term-paper that was in the works for… I’m not sure, about two years. For her, I'd like to present this Big Dogs "Queen Of Everything" lanyard, which she would definitely attest to. There’s the “room one” teachers, who I never lost faith in, even if some of them lost faith in us. (That room had quite a history of teachers coming and going. Kathy Newport currently has the record of staying there the longest, and she has such a great spirit that many teachers can only aspire to have. The gift to my family, also goes to her.) Also, the wonderful Fouks family, including of course, our wonderful principal, Kathy, her daughter Gallena, who made (and I hear is still being) a great teacher. My mother's made a mix-cd for Kathy, because she knows what a big fan of country music she is. Maybe I’ll run into them up at my vacation spot in the northwoods of Wisconsin. There’s Karl, our art teacher, who came just last year, and gave a whole lot of constructive criticism.
Debbie, you’re new to me, and yet you’ve helped me so much! Thank you for supporting me on those days where I just plain wanted to go HOME. Seriously though, she’s been a great help.
And finally, Eileen Bybee, our Dean Of Admissions… how can I thank you? Your sunny spirit has helped me through many a dark day. I !still! don’t know how you do it, day in and day out.
My friends, you know who you are, I love you all, and I thank you for sticking around. Even if you’re not here today, this message transcends all boundaries.
Okay. It's time for my treat. Earlier this spring, I finally received the poetry that my grandfather wrote. He had left it for me when he had passed away, and I thank him every day for it. My pop-pop (as I always called him) was an inspiration and a muse to me, encouraging me wherever I needed the boost. This included my interest in writing. I'd like to share a quick poem that he wrote years ago.
It's titled: Buttons.
I must find a woman who can sew a button.
I asked Sally who kisses divinely, but she couldn't find a needle.
I asked Lori, she gave me a story
Judy was too moody
And Sandra was on her way to shoot pool
Then I met Sam, and told him my problem
He said, "Don't be a fool".
Buttons are sewed by men who go to sewing school.
Maybe now I can fix that dang shirt...
PHEW! That was a mouthful. Thank you! I’m here every Tuesday.
I'm done for now. :p
As promised, here's my speech:
Everyone here had better get very comfortable. This… is the big one. My reign as BMOC is over, and I need some time to process it. ;)
Eileen wouldn’t have me walk across this stage without having made some sort of speech, so I figured I’d write this ahead of time.
Let me be totally honest and saccharine for a moment, and just say that this place has TRULY saved me. I was not at all happy at my first high school. It was so… big, and scary. Everything about it seemed imposing. There were a few good friends I had there, but for the most part, there wasn’t anything in the day I really had to look forward to except an all-encompassing sense of dread.
This was obviously not the place for a student who was newly diagnosed with depression and anxiety disorders.
I’m not going into the history of my time there, but staying at that place had really worsened my spirits. I spent about three months at home, occasionally venturing out to see whether I had the guts to walk up to the double-doors and go to school. Almost every time, I ran back to the car, bawling.
We all thought it was time for an intervention.
A group of administrators from my old school, my parents, and myself, sat at a table in the library, discussing alternative placement for me. The only school that Chicago Public Schools could come up with for me was a place out in La Grange Highlands, called “Acacia Academy”.
Took a couple weeks off to gather myself, get ready to start going to school again, and then I took the tour and testing routine that everyone else has when they’ve entered Acacia. That was 5 years ago, this past March. Already, I could tell things were going to be different. The classes were more laid-back. My classmates weren’t bouncing off of the walls. There were a lot of creative minds, like mine. School became… fun, again. (Yeah, I know, how did THAT happen?!)
There were a lot of setbacks through my time here, but people were just so supportive. If I fell back down, they picked me right back up again. If I was having a bad day, they always wanted to know what was causing it and if they could help to make it better. And the good days were almost celebrations.
Yes, I had a hard time staying here, too. There were all sorts of interesting characters throughout my stay. A lot of them were friendly, and I never let one rotten apple spoil the bunch. At least, I hope not!
Here comes the acknowledgements, and trust me, there are a lot of them.
First and foremost, I’d like to thank my family for being a true blessing, always encouraging, and following up on their words. You guys get an extra treat at the end.
Thank you, faculty of Acacia, especially Jim, who taught me just about every subject but English. No matter how much I fell behind, he never lost faith that I could catch up. So long, and thanks for all the fish. There’s Jeanine Makris, who had given me countless breaks on certain assignments, and who I would even call a friend, as I’d sit here later in the day and talk with her as I caught up on past-due work. There’s Carol McDonald, Queen of the Universe, who never gave up on a certain term-paper that was in the works for… I’m not sure, about two years. For her, I'd like to present this Big Dogs "Queen Of Everything" lanyard, which she would definitely attest to. There’s the “room one” teachers, who I never lost faith in, even if some of them lost faith in us. (That room had quite a history of teachers coming and going. Kathy Newport currently has the record of staying there the longest, and she has such a great spirit that many teachers can only aspire to have. The gift to my family, also goes to her.) Also, the wonderful Fouks family, including of course, our wonderful principal, Kathy, her daughter Gallena, who made (and I hear is still being) a great teacher. My mother's made a mix-cd for Kathy, because she knows what a big fan of country music she is. Maybe I’ll run into them up at my vacation spot in the northwoods of Wisconsin. There’s Karl, our art teacher, who came just last year, and gave a whole lot of constructive criticism.
Debbie, you’re new to me, and yet you’ve helped me so much! Thank you for supporting me on those days where I just plain wanted to go HOME. Seriously though, she’s been a great help.
And finally, Eileen Bybee, our Dean Of Admissions… how can I thank you? Your sunny spirit has helped me through many a dark day. I !still! don’t know how you do it, day in and day out.
My friends, you know who you are, I love you all, and I thank you for sticking around. Even if you’re not here today, this message transcends all boundaries.
Okay. It's time for my treat. Earlier this spring, I finally received the poetry that my grandfather wrote. He had left it for me when he had passed away, and I thank him every day for it. My pop-pop (as I always called him) was an inspiration and a muse to me, encouraging me wherever I needed the boost. This included my interest in writing. I'd like to share a quick poem that he wrote years ago.
It's titled: Buttons.
I must find a woman who can sew a button.
I asked Sally who kisses divinely, but she couldn't find a needle.
I asked Lori, she gave me a story
Judy was too moody
And Sandra was on her way to shoot pool
Then I met Sam, and told him my problem
He said, "Don't be a fool".
Buttons are sewed by men who go to sewing school.
Maybe now I can fix that dang shirt...
PHEW! That was a mouthful. Thank you! I’m here every Tuesday.
I'm done for now. :p