To say goodbye is not an easy thing… we’ve wrapped up another school year and graduated another set of beautiful students. Grad is late here (July 12) and I’m even later getting this written, but sometimes it’s just tough to say goodbye to the kiddos you’ve spent the last couple of years pouring into, hoping something sticks among the teaching, mentoring, and discipleship that happens daily. I know God will raise up more students for me to love (somehow it seems to happen every year…) and will raise up other humans to pour into these students, but still…*sigh* it’s time to let them go.

Graduation was surprisingly hard for me, not necessarily because I was saying goodbye, thought that tension was real, but because it felt different. Usually, teachers have a place to sit, they walk in before the grads as a way to honor their contribution to the students education. I had to sit there, holding back my tears of insecurity, frustration, pride, really all just forms of sin, and remind myself, “Today is not about you. We’re not here to honor you… we’re here to honor the graduates.” Still feeling frustrated repeating that back to myself I finally realized my error as I chuckled to myself. “We’re here to honor God.” As the self-talk shifted, my spirit lifted, “I’m not here for me, I’m not here for them, I’m here for God.” With a peace settling over me I could now sit back and enjoy watching my students walk across the stage to receive their diplomas.

One of my favorite RVA graduation traditions is the choir singing “Africa” by Toto. It is so moving watching 75+ students standing on a stage in caps and gowns, preparing to enter the next stage of life, moving to new countries and continents with words like, “It’ll take a lot to drag me away from you…” and “I’ll miss the rains down in Africa.” Many of these kids have been born and raised on this beautiful continent, but it’s time for them to move on. Some may come back as missionaries themselves, or just to visit family or communities they love. Others may not.

I am so proud of all they have accomplished, and of the people they have become, and that I got to be a tiny piece of shaping some of them. Below you’ll find some grad pics, along with snapshots of what I’ll miss about some of the ones I’ve particularly enjoyed doing life with these past two years. It certainly isn’t all the students I’ll miss, but it’ll give you a glimpse into why it might be so tough to say ‘goodbye’ this time around.

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These are the girls I dubbed my “AP Chem Girls” because, well, you guessed it: they were the girls in my AP Chem class last year. Five of them and I spent lots of time together this year. They came over for dinner about once a month and we even made a trip to Nairobi together where we all got ear piercings (with parent permission of course)! What I loved most were our chats, we talked about all kinds of things, boys, college, boys again, and then the occasional deep question… “How do you navigate X, Y, Z…” Love these girls to pieces and can’t wait to hear tidbits about how God moves and works in their lives ❤ (there were 5, but apparently I only got a grad pic with 3)

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These two guys bring me immense joy! They are a dynamic duo who never stop laughing! They love chem and took AP with me this year, a second year of goofiness together! One is a deep thinker, who has taught me what it looks like to be intentional, and to choose growth. We had SO MANY conversations together, sometimes I had to remind myself to talk to other students! One time, he wanted to chat and shared with me how I influenced him to share his testimony including some really unique struggles at the student “koinonia” meetings (think youth group). The other has been on my prayer cards as I’d been told he was a professing atheist. Sometime in second term, the first student shared, “Hey, did you know (friend) is a Christian now?” These guys sense of humor clicked with my craziness just enough they weren’t allowed to sit in the front row in AP Chem and distract me while I taught. Together the three of us have laughed so much! I’ll miss them for sure!

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If you read my post on “A War for Souls” you already know this next girl! She’s a keeper for sure! Bright, bubbly, and now, on fire for Jesus!

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These guys… our relationship began with them coming to my classroom to whine about failing their chem tests together. We’d usually chat about their test for 10 minutes, and then life for another 30. While they were NOT going to take AP (their words 😉 ), we still found each other around campus. Dinners on my front porch, teasing as they were “doing work I promise” for English class, and a week long trip as they were on my “interim” (annual trips we take the students on), I will miss these guys and their sense of humor! (Note the progression of the pics… this is what happens when you’re with teens- I really was just entering the throng for a pic with a couple and before I knew it I was surrounded!!!)

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These girls were two of my NHS officers this year. We met weekly, learned about leadership together and proposed, and implemented a couple of programs on campus! Their hearts for Jesus are beautiful. I loved chatting, hearing about what was going on in their lives and encouraging them as they organized things like “Monday Night Service” and an evening tutoring program. They love others so well! It amazes me how I can feel loved, just by being in their presence.

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This lovely came into my class almost daily first term having finished her bout with chem the previous spring. She’d dump her heart out as she drew cartoon Olaf’s on my board creating a day-by-day Olaf story line. I prayed for her often and loved her hard! It was neat to see God slowly answering our prayers as she walked through some really tough life.

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Sometimes, when you’re tight with one student, you get adopted by the whole friend group! This happened with these next guys, and a few others with them. When I taught them, they didn’t really stand out, but after they left my class, because I was pretty close with the two chem loving guys from above, I got to know these yahoos too. One of them often came up to me on Fridays and said, “Miss G, you want a happy Friday?” Since the answer was ALWAYS an enthusiastic yes, he would then proceed to draw a smiley on my hand with a highlighter every time. The other was on my intramural volleyball team and greeted me with a constant smile and hello, sometimes yelling at me from across campus to make sure the hello was received! They both love Jesus deeply and I can’t wait to hear about how they impact the world for Him!

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Talk about adopting friend groups… these ladies were another group I was ‘in’ though a couple of the ladies are not pictured. Some of them I got coffee with, others came over for movie nights, others were in my “caring community” (monthly intentional weekend hangouts all students are part of) and others I’d just stop and chat with during chai. Some of them asked me to do their nails for banquet (think prom), two of them I visited while I was in Uganda, another’s mom stayed at my house for a couple nights this term. These ladies are bright, spunky, kind, and all the other nice things I could say! ❤

While this doesn’t end the list of students I love, it does end the camera roll of who I managed to grab pic’s with in the post-grad chaos. There are so many more who graduated, and classes full of students yet to come. When I remind myself, “It’s all about God…” it makes it all the more fun to look at these beautiful teens and think about how so many of them are already living for Christ, and it get me excited for their futures to come.

Prayer Point

Would you pray for them with me as they transition into life after grad? Will you pray that they would stay firmly rooted in God’s word, and that they would be forces for Christ wherever they go?