Hello everyone. I hope you guys are enjoying Graduation. For the past four years, there has been a Furey Speech for Graduation. But Dad, it's my turn.
I have been here for ten happy years. I have known most of these graduates since my early years here. I can't believe I'm up here at this podium giving my Graduation Speech. I've been practicing this speech since I was an all-dayer crossing over. Now, I can actually reach the podium. Well, I better get started.
When I first came to this school, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, I was three. It actually turned out that I was older than everyone in my class - because my birthday was in August. My first teacher was Mrs. Sheehan. On the very first day of school, Mrs. Sheehan said "Hello, Michael how are you?" Then I said back "Hello, Michael how are you? " Mrs. Sheehan looked up at my parents and my parents had worried looks on their faces. Mrs. Sheehan just smiled and said "He is just practicing his language, and besides, if you just repeat what someone else says, that is pretty safe. " Mrs. Sheehan was always kind and understanding up to this very day. In Stepping Stones I met a lot of new friends, like Reeta and Danny - fellow lifers. Miss Denise and Miss Sally were helpful and always came to the rescue.
When I look back at Primary, I think of all the great and fun stuff that I did. I like to go to my old Primary room and think: "Oh, that is where that happened - and wow it is still there! " I met my good friends, Jordan and Andrew, during the Primary years. In Primary, Mrs. Herron and Miss Theresa taught us to explore as much as possible, care for others, and say "Thank you". I know that definitely when I look at the new first graders among us.
Miss Theresa was cheerful and kind to us no matter what. Mrs. Herron was patient and thoughtful. In Primary, I discovered the need to always try to do the right thing. During the third year of Primary, it was so cool because you get to stay all day, hence the term "All-Dayer." I also liked it because it was a small group and we learned to read. I have this book called: All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. So here are some things you learn in Kindergarten to help you succeed in life:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Say you are sorry when you hurt somebody.
And, warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Then, I moved up from Primary to First Grade. I was in Meg and Lois's class. On the first day I felt a little nervous. Although, I did feel special when I got the first cubby, even though it was right under the stairs to the library. But, I would have banged my head a thousand times on those stairs to be in that classroom. Meg was so welcoming and loved to do fun stuff with us, like her science lessons. She always gave us great science lessons, especially the ones in the beginning of the year. The Big Bang. Lois was always encouraging. She worked hard to make sure we had the sufficient amount of help. She also was very kind to us and wanted us to succeed in everything we do. At first it was scary, and somewhat overwhelming being in first grade, but I got used to it and then loved it. Also, a first for me was having a pet in the classroom. His name was Teddy and he was a Guinea Pig. Later another Guinea pig named Zoe came to the classroom too. I'm sorry I focused some of the speech on Guinea Pigs, but hey, they are always fun to talk about once in a while.
In second grade, we moved to the new Elementary Building. It was wonderful - a bigger classroom and a beautiful view of the grounds. Bianca joined us in second grade and quickly became friends with me and everyone.
Third grade was a great experience, because we were the oldest in the class. I liked helping Meg demonstrate science experiments for the younger children. We were also doing times tables to get ready for Upper El and I got to work with the checkerboard. My mom taught us reading that year - and that was kind of cool.
UPPER EL!! When I was going into Upper El, I was nervous, because I thought that there was going to be a lot more homework - and I was right! But I already knew Mrs. L from her after-school baking classes. Not only is she a great teacher, but she has a great sense of humor, which you need to teach Upper El. I liked eating lunch with Mrs. L, which became a tradition every Friday. She always liked to talk with us about our opinions - and she was very respectful and polite to us. Ever since I was in Stepping Stones, I looked up to the Upper El students as role models, and now I was one! But every morning, on the way to the Upper El classroom, I stopped in to see Meg and Lois and wished them a good day.
In fourth grade, there were two new students, Greg and Jaslyn. All of us graduates became great friends. Mrs. Mehta taught us for two years. She was always cheerful and engaging. In sixth grade, it was great to have Mr. Nord, because he encouraged us to do good work and didn't mind helping us with our math problems.
In Upper El, you get to stay at Camp Onas for two nights instead of one. Camp Onas was always fun, except for the wolves howling at night - just kidding.
Mrs. L gave great history lessons. Every year, we had a different theme. When Mrs. L explained it, history became alive for us. In fifth grade, we studied ancient times and that was my favorite.
In sixth grade, I studied hard, played a lot of football with the guys and prepared for Middle School. We also performed at the Wachovia Center. For our 6th grade trip, we went to Baltimore in a limousine. It was quite cool to be in a limo. We visited the science museum and had lunch at the Hard Rock Café. That was a lot of fun.
Many thanks:
To CoCo for making us all musicians.
To Mrs. Barclay for teaching us that the whole world is a library.
To Madam Denise for giving us an eye for art.
To Mrs. Hunter for all the computer skills that we will need out in cyberworld.
To Mrs. Johns, Miss Sally and Ms. Hahr for encouraging our writing and creativity.
To Mr. K for teaching us to be good sports and play fair. He is probably the nicest coach you will ever meet.
To Mr. Coombs for taking good care of our school this year.
I am grateful every day that I have so many wonderful friends and teachers, and I will never forget you. This school was my first and always will be my favorite.
And on this graduation day, I would like to leave you with a quote from the book about Kindergarten: It is still true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
Michael will attend Friends' Central School