Just thirty minutes ago the eighth graders here at John Jay Cloonan Middle School moved up from being middle schoolers to being newbies at Stamford’s local high schools. My mind returned to the year 1970 when I moved up here at Cloonan. It was the same in many ways yet different. We moved up at night and our parents came from their daily responsibilities to see us “graduate” we called it that. There are no greeting cards for “moving up”. Today the students looked so mature and dressed to the nines. I so love to sit on a table and watch the parents/ los padres, aunts and uncles/ los tios y las tias, grandparents/los aubuelos y las aubelas arrive with flowers and lots of balloons. It is a family occasions. Whether you are an honor roll student or a struggling scholar this is a great moment in your life.
I and my colleagues are tired and we are excited to begin summer vacation. I have about eight days of vacation and then summer school begins. I intend to visit the beach, put up summer curtains and read. I am moving up- up to a summertime mode. One more day after tomorrow.
At the moment congratulations to the Cloonan Eighth Grade class. Love you!
The crew at Hammerin’ Hank’s Place!
Hammerin' Hank's Place 