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 discussed this. She wasn’t particularly emotional about it because she felt we hadn’t done a great job preparing these kids for the future. Having been closely involved with the entire journey, she saw the many missed opportunities and flaws. She cited how some kids almost had no next steps in terms of finding their next schools and how some could have achieved more academically. In other words, she was so close to the nitty-gritty that she wasn’t able to “smell the roses.”
I thought there was 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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