Graduation

Last night I had the pleasure of graduating at el Centro Marie Poussepin.

As most of you know (for those who don´t), I graduated a semester early and finished my undergrad in December. This past Sunday was Stonehill´s Class of 2011 commencement ceremony. Since I´m here in Honduras, I was unable to attend with the rest of my classmates and good friends. It was difficult to be so far away and disconnected from it all.

The weekend passed as normal, and I wasn´t expecting any sort of celebration. I was able to have a family party before I left, so I felt that my graduation was behind me. Last week we were told that we would be celebrating Sister Teresa´s birthday but that it was a surprise.

So at 6:30 the bell rang and everyone gathered under the mango tree. I went prepared with my card for Sister Teresa, signed by all of the tutors. Matt called everyone´s attention and then turned to me and told me to go change. Andrea guided me into the back room to put on a graduation cap and gown. After trying to collect myself from such a surprise and stop laughing/crying, I came out to find the girls lined up, creating a pathway leading to the gazebo. Some students were decked out with confetti and bubbles for when I passed by. When I finally reached the gazebo, it was lit up in glow sticks that said Bienvenida. The lights turned on and it was decorated with Felicidades and in Stonehill´s purple and white.

Everyone gathered in and Sister Teresa said a few words and said a blessing. Then Andrea and Matt both spoke. I was really moved by what Matt shared with everyone present. It was an excellent opportunity to reach out to the students, to show them the connection between education and personal development, that schooling is more than just memorizing from books. He talked about the values that each of us had learned from Stonehill and are now sharing our gifts with the students. I hope that they were able to take something away from what he said, to value an accomplishment such as a graduation, and to be motivated to complete their studies. Chris then made it official by handing me my diploma, which was artfully crafted by Matt and Andrea. It seems pretty legitimate, even signed by Sister Teresa and Father Craig.

As if that wasn´t enough of a surprise, Sister Teresa had thought the whole time that the celebration was just for my graduation! So then the board was turned around, changing it from a graduation hat to party balloons. Everyone sang and laughed as Sister reacted, quite surprised. II Bachillerato sang a song for each of us, about endings and new beginnings, I Ciclo danced, and the rest of the grades had made quite beautiful cards.

I was asked to share my words with them before we ate the ice cream that was to come. I was still so overwhelmed that I didn´t have many words. But I mainly shared that although I was far away from my family
and friends, I was glad to be celebrating with my family here.

Then the dancing started. The girls normally have an hour of silent
study time, but instead the Sister let them dance until bedtime! They
seemed to have a nice time, and it was good to see them have fun and
relax.

Matt and Andrea had been working over the weekend and all day Monday on decorating and organizing everything. It was a really nice thing to do for Sister and I. (I even found my tassle from my cap tied onto my bike this morning.) It was such a nice night. As Andrea was guiding me in back to put on the cap and gown, she said- this will be a graduation you´ll never forget. And boy, was she right.