Last Friday, 28th of June, 2024, was our school first graduation. 7 kids finished their 8th year at our school.
I became emotional as the graduation ceremony began. At that moment, I couldn’t process why I was shaken. It’s probably was a combination of realizing these children would no longer be in our school after that day and the fact that we had managed to survive for seven years.
That night, my wife and I reflected on the event and the past 7 years of running the school. While we relished recalling the moments of the day, we spent most of our time wondering what we could have done differently or better. It was tricky when we were so close to the nitty-gritty. We saw and felt everything, and that probably made it unnecessarily difficult for us to fully and wholeheartedly “smell the roses.”
So I am going to change that and force myself to take a long and deep inhale of the aroma of the roses.
There were much to recognize. Sharon and Maggie had managed to grow this school from about 10 kids to a community of more than 300 people. Our students were very artistic and musical. Of all the things these graduates could have chosen as a gift for their teacher, they decided to write and perform a song for her. The graduation day was also our end-of-term concert, where our students performed a variety of choral and orchestral pieces. It has become a tradition that parents, students, and teachers all look forward to.
I am happy I invested all my savings into this. It’s a meaningful investment of our money and time. Our own children are benefiting from it, and we have made a positive impact on all the kids and families who decided to let their children spend their primary years with us.
This journey has been rewarding and unique. We are running a non-profit school that aims to augment the lives of students and their families for the better. There is no justification or rationalization needed. The meaning and purpose of this effort is straightforward and this simplicity makes life easier.
And for this, I am forever grateful to Sharon, her passion, her vision, her abilities, and her conviction to create and operate this school.
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