Dear friends, readers, and critics alike: With this week’s issue focusing on and featuring many of the young people graduating from Catholic schools this year, I wanted to take a moment to address all of them, especially the eighth grade graduates, as they take their next steps in life.
Greetings, graduates, and welcome to the day you long prepared for and the day that is already going by so fast.
To the eighth grade graduates, for whom this message is mostly geared toward, almost 25 years ago, I was in the same spot you’re in. Not the exact same spot, of course. The church where I had my grade school graduation is now a wedding and event venue, but I know a little bit about what you’re thinking and feeling now.
1. Celebrate this
My first point is to encourage you all to celebrate this moment and make the most of it.
What you’re recognizing here today is a pretty significant accomplishment.
For many of you, this is the culmination of an almost 10-year journey, and you’re not even 15 yet. That’s a huge chunk of your life!
When I graduated from eighth grade, I kept thinking about the fact that I’d just spent nine years (kindergarten to eighth grade) doing the same thing every year — going to grade school.
I really didn’t know anything else and the thought of impending high school was too much to even calculate at that moment.
It’s going to be a long time before you accomplish something that takes that same amount of time.
Think about it. High school lasts four years. College lasts around four years, save for graduate school. Your first job or two out of college might be only two to three years, and a couple of the successive ones after that might only take up a similar amount of time.
I know you didn’t have much choice in the matter, but to come this far, accomplish this much, in this amount of mine, most of your lives is extraordinary and quite a thing to be proud of.
So, once you get that diploma, go ahead and admire it for a little bit.
Also, try to do something nice for yourself if you can. One thing I did was use some of the money I was gifted and buy some Nintendo games at a local video rental store.
I realize most of what I said doesn’t make a lot of sense to you, but that leads me to my next point.
2. Your life will change
Although it’s hard to grasp at this very moment, and you have a long time with which to grasp it, a lot of the things you are used to will change — some quickly, some in due time.
Many of you are already excited about this possibility, but you’re getting older.
Soon you’ll have more responsibilities and the maturity with which to handle them.
Jobs, cars, dates, afterschool organizations, planning for college, and battling acne are all coming if some of them aren’t here already.
It might seem overwhelming, at this point in your life, having one foot in childhood and one foot in teenage years, but some interesting times are certainly coming.
As your brain, body, mind, heart, and soul all learn to accept, adjust, and make sense of it all, let me just say it’ll be alright.
Many of us that love and care for you went through it too, and we got out OK.
Let this be a time to mature in your faith as well and learn what it means to trust in God.
Another thing to accept is some of the people you were used to seeing every day here won’t be in your life as much anymore.
It’s easy to think that you’ll all be friends forever, and some of you will be, but some of you will move on, move away, and move ahead.
That’s just a part of life we all get used to eventually, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a little sad.
When those times come, and you realize that certain people you treasured are not in your life as much anymore, it’s OK to miss them. It’s OK to miss this place. It’s OK to miss all the moments and the memories that you had and made here.
That leads me to my third point.
3. Don’t forget where you came from
Nothing can ever take away these past years here.
This was a special time in your life that nothing in the future will really quite resemble.
You learned a lot here, and even if you don’t realize it, you’ll use a lot of it through the rest of your life.
You learned how to pray. You learned how to meet people and make friends. You learned how to make the most of the time you’ve been given. You learned how to do a lot of homework, and homework isn’t going away any time soon.
You became part of a family here. You became part of a school and parish family that always supported you and prayed for you.
Don’t forget to return the favor and pray for each other and those that are following in your footsteps.
Now, with all of the social media we have, don’t feel shy about reaching out or saying “hello” to your fellow graduates as the year goes on.
And, give some thought to maybe having a reunion from time to time.
Teachers and staff, be open to letting these fine students come back and visit or be a part of the future here.
Graduates, even if you just want to move on from this place completely, that’s OK too.
Just don’t forget to remember this nine-or-so-year chunk of your life that got you to this point — the day before the rest of your lives.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.