alyssa's graduation

i'm not sure why it's taken me almost a week to write about alyssa's 8th grade graduation ceremony. it was such an awesome night, and i was so proud of her. i'm actually more emotional now, then i was that night. i held it together that night, and only got a little teary eyed about a half hour before the ceremony. you could just feel the excitement in the air, and it got the best of me. and then i was fine. but now? i'm actually tearing up as i type this. and i have teared up every time i've gone to edit these photos. mainly because i'm just so dang proud of my girl!

doesn't she look gorgeous up there! you'd never know it by looking at this picture, but we had her hair so curly and cute. however, her hair just doesn't hold the curl. it still looked great though. she had the prettiest dress, that was quite a lot of work to decide on. she wanted to wear heels, to make her a tad bit taller. she's still such a tiny thing. although she wasn't actually the smallest in her class this time. there were a few boys shorter than her. it worked out though, since the order they walked in was determined by height. so that put her in the front row :)

they had the opening part of the ceremony, and a few great speeches gave by fellow classmates. then they got to the honor roll students. the students on honor roll for the year were wearing the double silver cords. a good sized group of students. then there were 7 students (out of 96) that held a 4.0 GPA for the entire 8th grade year, and they wore the gold sash. alyssa was one of those students. they were all honored with engraved plaques.

then they moved on to the outstanding achievement awards for each subject. there was language arts, social studies, science, algebra, drama, choir, and band. alyssa picked up a nice engraved plaque for excellence in language arts :)

 

then she sat down. and then she got called back up. took another engraved plaque for excellence in algebra :)

then she sat down. you see where i'm going with this? she got called right back up. took home another engraved plaque for excellence in social studies :)

yes, my girl sort of swept the awards that night! 4 total. and 3 of the 7 subject awards (the hard subjects). and i'm totally fine bragging on it, because she earned it. school does come naturally to her. she enjoys it, and she's extremely self-motivated. but she also works her tush off to get the grades she does. she's read a trillion books this school year (give or take a few), she studies like crazy, and goes above and beyond whenever she can. these awards might also be what saved me from getting too emotional that night. i was too busy WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO'ing it up for my girl, to think too much about it all. lol!

sorry. had to go to the house to get the photo of her with her awards. lol! back over to the ceremony. after the awards, the moved onto to the promotion certificates. they called out each student, who came up and received their "certificate". which was really just blank inside. they had to wait until friday, to get the real thing. this was her walking out. she walked in a jr high schooler, and walked out a high schooler. wow!

it was pure madness outside, after the ceremony. kids everywhere, families everywhere, camera's everywhere. and most of my shots turned out super blurry and dark. but i got this good one of alyssa and one of her BFF's, kassidy. every morning, at 8:10am, kassidy has come by the side door on her way to school. and she comes inside, and waits for alyssa and sarah to finish getting ready. and they all walk  together.

i love that alyssa has genuinely good and nice friends. and it makes me feel even better, that most of her close friends are going to the same high school as her. quite a lot of students from her class, are headed out to another high school in town. so i'm glad she'll have some familar faces, of good kids :)

and this was on the front page of the newspaper the following morning! i love that it says "honor roll and 4.0 grade point average student alyssa accepts one of her many awards" ;)

Comments

[Diana]

way to go Alyssa!! She is such a beauty looking SO grown up! My alyisa is going into 7th! Crazy how they grow up SO fast!

[Amy]

Congrats, Alyssa! You look soo beautiful in your pics!!!! congrats, too, Mama!!!

[ZoezMom]

WOW!! Congratulations, Alyssa! Momma, you should be bragging and so very proud! Great pictures, they sure show the excitement in her eyes.

[Sandi N.]

Laura

She is just amazing...you know I think you are rubbing off on her:)

Sandi N.

[Tiffany]

Ah! LOVE these photos, what a proud momma you are! So special!

[Kathy (krolski)]

That's so GREAT Laura! Big Congrats to Alyssa! She's beautiful and SMART! You are doing a great job raising her.

[Brenda H]

what a smartie pants! I'm sure she takes after you - right?? What a proud moment for mama - and in the paper too! COngratulations Alyssa!

[Sara Rossi]

You have every reason to be proud!! She did an amazing job!! WAY TO GO ALYSSA!! CONGRATULATIONS!!

BTW--I think Alyssa even looks older in these pics too!

[Uncle Bob]

Alyssa,
I can remember when Meagan and Rachael graduated from 8th grade too. But you have run away with the award thing! I am one proud uncle!!!!!!!!!! You did really great. Keep it up and you'll be able to be what ever you want to be in life. Let Jesus shine too in your heart and life and don't be afraid to share Him with others.We are so proud of you!!

[lisa]

Ok this made ME teary eyed and I've never even MET Alyssa!!! Congratulations on all these accomplishments. She'll do just fine in high school, I'm sure!

[Shaun Paddock]

This is so cool! Alyssa, you should be very proud of yourself. This is quite an accomplishment and you deserve the awards and recognition! Keep up the good work! Congratulations!