Check out this letter from your Teen Services Librarian Renée! This week she is writing about graduation!
This weekend, many of you will finish up your grade school years. Not including kindergarten, over the last twelve years you have spent approximately 71 months, 2,160 days, 15,120 hours, 907,200 minutes, and 54,432,000 seconds in the classroom. That’s a lot of time, but the least of your accomplishments. Many of you could barely tie your shoes twelve years ago and now some of you know calculus. Most of you could only read and write your name twelve years ago, now some of you can read and write in other languages. Some of you were still struggling with leaving your parents, pets, and toys each day for the classroom, now many of you are eager to leave the nest. My how you’ve grown!
There is so much more you have learned over the past twelve years that is harder to measure, but with no less importance. There is a good chance you have learned about heartache and loss, but you also gained new experiences and learned about love. You may have learned life is full of difficult choices and it’s not always pretty, but adversity makes us who we are and scars can be beautiful.
One thing that the class of 2020 has learned is that not always do things workout as planned. Many of you started the year looking forward to senior celebrations such prom, award ceremonies, acceptance day, and senior camp out. Some of you were looking forward to spending time with childhood friends before childhood ends. Probably all of you were looking forward to graduation. Graduation may not be how you planned, and while us adults in the room can’t say we fully understand how you feel, we do sympathize and understand missing or postponing graduation is hard. That is why this week the Library AND the nation is honoring you, the graduating class of 2020!
From ALL the staff at the Lafayette Library, Congratulations 2020 graduates! We have enjoyed seeing many of you grow up in and around the library and we look forward to hearing of your next leg of your journey. To all the seniors who have dedicated many years to volunteering at the Library, thank you for your commitment and dedication. You have helped shape our community for the better.
Here are some ways the nation will be celebrating you this week:
- On May 15th, Facebook and Instagram will host a multi-hour graduation featuring a commencement address by Oprah Winfrey. This event will be live-streamed starting at 12pm Mountain Time
- May 16th at 6pm Mountain Time, Former President Barack Obama will deliver a televised commencement address that will also feature LeBron James and Malala Yousafzai, among others. ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC will simultaneously air the special along with other broadcast and digital streaming partners.
High school graduation completes one chapter in your memoir, but there are many more chapters to be written. Every day is a chance to learn something new, have an adventure, write a new page. None of us know how the next chapters will unfold, but trust me, it will be a thriller with many twists and turns. My only advice is this, take it day by day. Yes, you can and should have high hopes and make grand plans, but you can only get there one day at a time. So make the days count and enjoy the journey!
All the best,
-Renée