Previous Story
LITERARY NOOK
2019 graduates ‘traverse the ethereal space’
“Students, to you ’tis giv’n to scan the heights above, to traverse the ethereal space, and mark the systems of revolving worlds.” Those are the words of Phyllis Wheatley, who was brought as a slave from Africa to America in 1761, when she was 8 years old. This quote is an excerpt from a letter she wrote, “To the University of Cambridge (now called Harvard University) in New England” in 1773.
Here’s a message I wrote back in 2015 to the last group of students I taught at THS. It is relevant now as they are the 2019 high school graduates and have the perspective to look back at their last four years.
“For Tinian Jr. High School 8th grade graduates 2015,
Now you are graduating from eighth grade
you have come a long way from Kindergarten
on summer break read some books in the shade
it won’t be long before high school’s startin.
As you proceed through educational transitions
use your newly learned skills for the next four years
keep focused on these new learning acquisitions
thinking and reading help shift your mental gears.
What will your high school experience be?
it’s all up to you, just try every day
read all you can, let your questions run free
join in discussions, have something to say.
Keep the best of your junior high school learning!
Keep your newly educated young minds burning! ”
Different Pathways
For all 2019 CNMI HS graduates
Success is helped when accompanied by love
from parents as their children begin to succeed
in comprehending different pathways through
their life as a most important and vital need
Not a single one of the high school graduates
who walk across the stage with diplomas today
can tell exactly where success will lead them
their future is beginning just moments away
Concerned parents, teachers and all students
involved with learning year after school year
now face the travail of a life long journey
towards success as they grin from ear to ear.
Success for all when it comes right down to it
begins the moment when they go out and do it.
To the 2019 THS graduates: You are the last group of students I taught in my teaching career. As the song goes you’ll be “always on my mind.” Memorias. Adios para pagu. Biba Tinian High School, yan lokkue biba hamyo.
