Graduate

In all the pain, fear, and frustration I've been consumed with this past week, to stop the crying, I forced myself to focus on some light in the darkness. There is more to be said, of Trevon and students like him, but took my big bro’s advice of giving myself 30min to write and publish.
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“Ms. Sara you didn’t hate us, you just hated how much you loved us” - Trevon Stanford, HS graduate!
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You’d enter class like a tornado

You’d sit in class like…correction,

You’d roam class like a nomad

You’d participate in class like an entertainer

And you’d exit class begging for one more chance, knowing very well I’d cave.

You’d leave me frustrated – not with you but with me. 

You’d leave me exhausted

You’d leave me ready to quit

But ultimately, you’d leave me inspired…

Because sometimes you’d slip

Sometimes those sparks of genius would flicker

Sometimes the personas of leadership would grab hold

Sometimes your walls of protection would crack

And then sometimes, your vulnerability to feel successful would seep out

But they didn’t see you how we saw you

They saw you as a square peg not fitting into their round hole

They saw you as a problem not to be fixed but forgotten

They saw you as a list of steps to show yourself out.

Then you chose to leave, despite our plea

You said, I need to go where no one knows me

You said, don’t worry I got this

You said, I promise, just wait and see

A year went by and you pushed on

Another two years went by and you kept on pushing

Today your sparks of genius cannot be extinguished

Today your personas of leadership are your truth

Today you know success, steadfast on the future 

Today you graduated

And today, like you did back then, you leave me – and all of us who know you – INSPIRED.