Tears of joy. Tears of relief. Tears of pride. Who knows? Maybe all three.
But that’s what you see at an eighth-grade graduation.
I was lucky enough to attend one last week and found myself watching not just the students but the adults in the auditorium too. Parents crying, so proud of their students. Teachers smiling, maybe for the joy of summer, maybe out of pride for a student, or maybe because of the feeling that comes with, “we made it.”
So many emotions.
And I wondered what everyone was feeling.
Is this why we do it? Is this what it is all about?
I wish I could bottle up this energy to be used for a later time. The energy, the love, the hope, the possibility. These milestone moments mark the end of one chapter and the beginning of another. They remind us that growth is happening even when we don’t see it day to day.
The challenge is that most of the school year doesn’t feel like graduation.
Most days feel like paperwork, behavior plans, difficult conversations, and trying to make it through one more meeting.
So I wonder: How can we hold onto these milestone moments when we’re in the day-to-day doldrums? When you feel like we’ve hit a wall? When we feel like we’re failing your students?
How can we remember these moments when we need them the most?
Because another year will begin next year in just another 12 short weeks and many of the same challenges will return.
Most days don’t come with visible proof that our work mattered. Yet, these graduation moments exist because of all those ordinary days.
Every relationship that’s built. Every time you stayed calm when a student couldn’t. Every moment you showed up when it would have been easier not to. These moments add up.
And then we get to summer.
As educators, summer gives us something we rarely experience during the school year: Space.
Space to breathe, space to process, space to remember, space to reconnect with ourselves.
Maybe the first week or two isn’t about growth at all but it’s about rest, getting your house back in working order, taking a trip or doing absolutely nothing. There is wisdom in that too.
I like to take a trip right away to jump-start the summer. Last week, my family and I spent one night backpacking in Mt. Rainier National Park with friends. Just one night. Just one hour from home.
And that was enough. Enough to break free from work stress and begin summer. When we returned, the sun was out and it felt different. No work obligations. Just family, home, community, and the simple rhythms of life.
We move so fast during the school year. Now is our time to be still. Our opportunity to reflect. A time to ask ourselves:
What worked this year?
What didn’t?
What patterns kept showing up?
Who do I want to be next year when challenges return?
Because the challenges will return. The difficult conversations. The moments of frustration and self-doubt. They’ll be waiting in just a few short months when another school year begins.
The question is whether you’ll meet them the same way you always have or whether you’ll begin a different journey.
A journey of awareness. A journey of learning how to remain steady when others cannot. A journey of becoming the anchor your students need.
This summer I will be leading my first beta coaching journey focused on reflection, nervous system regulation, and practical strategies for staying grounded during challenging moments at school - all founded in science.
If you’re ready to invest in yourself this summer so you can return to school more steady, more confident, and better prepared for whatever next year brings, I’d love to have you join me.
Respond below with, “I’m in” and I’ll send you more information!
Because as much as we’d like every day to feel like that graduation, we know from experience that it doesn’t.
And so we prepare ourselves for what comes next.
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