Good Morning all. I’m Miss Dingle and I teach the TMAC class here at Lakeview.
There are 2 groups of people here today that I would like to address.
The first is the parents.
Parents first I would like to thank you for being here to support and recognize your child. I don’t think that there is anything more important to your child than to have you here today on a very important milestone in their educational journey. Dr. Whitman says that children spell love T I M E. So to make the time to come here today to see them say goodbye to elementary school and hello to the big world of Middle School is saying to them just how much you love them. I can only imagine how proud you must be to see your child. For some of you it might be your first child, some it might be your youngest baby, and for some of you you’ve done this before and still have one or two more to go, but to see your child sitting here all dressed up like a young adult ready to move from one level of schooling to another must bring a tear to your eye. That tear is because of how proud you are. James Baldwin once said that “Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” They are going to step into that Middle school and be faced with things that are new and exciting, challenging and scary and they need you.
So parents, I thank you for being here today on this special day. I know your child appreciates it; the teachers appreciate it; and I do as well because YOU are one of the most important pieces to your child’s success.
The second group of people is the reason we are here, and that is the students. You all look wonderful. You all have done an amazing job this year. You had astounding growth and have been wonderful to work with in the past year. Those are are the types of accomplishments that we should be proud of and continue to strive for each year, but what makes me so proud of this group of students is how they took on the challenges that these teachers and this school presented them with and took them on with hard work, and a belief that they can do it. That is what I have always said: High scores are great, but your high scores are not what make you a success in life. Hard work, dedication, and a belief that they can succeed, is what makes you a success in life. These students will be the ones who will be the teachers, lawyers, doctors, and the decision makers in about 15 to 20 years. One of my favorite quotes comes from General Patton who said, “Accept the challenge so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.” That is what these students did, they accepted the challenge from their teachers and they were able to feel the exhilaration of victory by being the best 5th graders in the district.
I would like to introduce one of my amazing students from this year, Blake Miller. He is going to be speaking about the TMAC class and his varied experiences in it.
