Meredith's Graduation Speech

Ten Whole Years by Meredith Noll

Almost a decade ago I came to G.M.S ready to learn and not a bit shy, well, maybe a bit, sort of, not really, ALL RIGHT! So I was a little bit shy. But even though I was a shy I had a great first year in Mrs.A’s class. I remember one day at snack time we were having peanut butter crackers and there I was licking the peanut butter off the crackers that were for snack for everyone. When Mrs. A finally caught me she put me at a separate table, but I still got snack.

When I went up to primary I was in Maggie and Dan’s class. I did letter boards and sandpaper letters. I also did the orange juicer and the apple cutter, I think we were allowed to drink the orange juice we squeezed. I had a lot of friends that I went to kindergarten with; there was Erica Lipoff, Rebecca Wynstock, Jay Schafer, and Michael Witkes. There was a special corner in Maggie’s class that was only for the all dayers. When I was an all dayer I finally was allowed in there and I got to play with the toys that are in the box there and the games on the shelf; it was really fun.

Mrs.Hartnett was my Lower El teacher, along with her assistant, Mrs.Slattery, who always called me dreamboat. All my best friends from Maggie’s class except the boy named Michael Witkes came to Mrs. Hartnett’s class. In First grade Mr. K. introduced us to the Presidential Fitness Test; besides that gym class was always fun. Thanks for all the amazing classes, Mr. K. When I was in first grade I took cooking class for one year. If I had to choose a favorite recipe I’d have to say the pound cake. Near the end of the year we went to Camp Onas. First years weren’t allowed to sleep over because the school was afraid we’d get scared and want to go home and they didn’t want to have to drive us home. Everybody got a nickname. Mine was Angel because I had a shirt that had an angel on it.

In second grade, before the school year started, I was at home after some fancy occasion and I was trying to get a bow out of my hair. I wasn’t able to get the bow out so instead of going to my mom I took the scissors out of the cabinet over the sink and cut out the bow. I liked the feeling of the scissors going through my hair so I started to cut and it was a lot of hair because my hair had been down to my waist. After I had cut my hair I went downstairs and showed my mother. I have never seen her so shocked! A couple of days later we went to the salon. They cut my hair so short I looked like a boy and on the first day of school Mrs.Slattery mistook me for a new student! It was so embarrassing.

In third grade I was the only third grader in Mrs. Hartnett’s class; I started to do specials with Meg’s class. Enter one of my best friends Nicole Surman. I started to get to know her better during that whole year and become better friends with her, and Emily Red and Ella Cohen.

In fourth grade there were only five of us Emily Red, Ella Cohen, Nicole Surman, and me along with Nia Hall, a girl who just transferred here. It was a lot of fun during the first few weeks. Then enter David Corenswet, a guy who jumped from Meg ‘s class to Mrs.L’s in middle of third grade, then left for Haverford Friends, then came back in the middle of the year. He got a big welcome, then it was a more interesting year.

In fifth grade there was a very even number of kids: six fourth graders and six fifth graders, so there were twelve kids all together, and we got moved into a new classroom. Mrs. L. got an assistant to help her with the kids. His name was Mr. Nord. Very funny guy. What we used to do was when he wasn’t looking was we’d switch our regular math books for the teacher’s edition so we had the answers instead of the regular problems.

At Camp Onas that year the girls found a secret passage from the playground to the girl’s bunks. The best part of the Camp Onas trip that year was the High Ropes course you got a harness and helmet on and then you climbed a ladder to get to these wires and you would start walking on the rope and when you fell they would pull on the rope and gently lower you down. But the greatest part of the high ropes course was the zip line. You would get in a harness and climb up a tree to a platform where the zip gear is. There you would get hooked on and jump off and zip over the pond. It was awesome.

This year has been pretty good; we got a new teacher (along with Mrs. L.). Mrs. Mehta specializes in science and math. We also got twelve new fourth years and we lost two students from last year and got a new one making the class full of twenty-three kids. The fourth years have been slight pests though they are endurable. Farther into the year we had a project about the different religions of the world. I paired up with Andrew Feldman and we researched Taoism.

At the Auction this year my mother bought something called “Head of School for a Day”, so on May 12, 2005, I was head of school for the day. I went to four classrooms: Mrs. A’s, Mrs. Edlind’s, Maggie’s and Mrs. Hartnett’s, and I took some notes of the behavior of the students. At lunchtime I threw the Upper El a pizza party. Also Mrs. Mehta, David, Alex, and Alek did a hoax and pretended to have a fight and came to me to figure out the problem and give punishment, and I wrote the Peace for this Week in the Caring Connections. At the end of the day Dr.Balamore gave me a bag with lots of goodies. At study hall Alek told me it was all a hoax and when I told David the next day he go so mad at Alek because they were going to tell me at the end of the year.

We had a history project and we could choose a topic from the time of the discovery of America to when slavery ended. I studied the life in Mexico before the Alamo and the Alamo.

This year at Camp Onas was awesome. We played in the barn, we also did the high ropes course and we had our campfire inside because it was raining on and off. The sixth graders put on a skit called “An Episode in the Twilight Zone: When Old People Attack!” David was a college football player, Ella was a cheerleader/nurse, Emily, Nicole, and I were old people, and Nia was the announcer. The hayride this year was awesome. It’s hard to say goodbye to Camp Onas.

I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me through the years: Mr. K, Madame Denise, Coco, Maggie, Mrs. A, Dan, Mrs. Hartnett, Mrs. Slattery, Mrs. L, Mr. Nord, Mrs. Mehta, Dr. Balamore, Ahsiyah, and my parents, my sister, my mom’s father who was a builder of the school, the rest of my family, my pets alive and dead, and my five friends: my fellow sixth graders Ella, Nicole, Emily, Nia, and David.

I’ve had the best times here at G.M.S. and it pains me to say goodbye to you all, so goodbye Gladwyne Montessori SchoolL