More than you realize...

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of school for the 2008-09 school year! Don't get me wrong, I am as ready for summer break as anyone else, but it really feels as if we were just starting the school year and all of you were coming into my office to request changes to your schedule. (Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that my office seems to be a revolving door with people coming in to request changes to next year's schedule.) Getting schedules to work is a more daunting task than most would suspect and we do our best to meet all of your needs, but please be reasonable and realistic. It isn't always possible to get the "perfect" schedule and yet we are doing the best we can to get you into the classes that you selected in February.

In addition to the fact that summer break will be starting very soon, one of the best parts of this time of year has to be the return of all of my "former" students who have graduated, headed off to college, but still make time to stop back in to visit. These visits mean more than I can explain. I care about all of my students, so when kids come back to visit, it is definitely a highlight. I love seeing and hearing about what the students are doing and accomplishing since their graduation from Kilbourne. The depth of my gratitude for these return visits was intensified from a conversation that I had with a Kilbourne graduate at a recent graduation party. I introduced myself to the 2006 graduate (please note that this was just 3 years ago, but was before I was at WKHS) and explained that I am a counselor at Kilbourne. He paused and then said he didn't think he could even remember who his counselor was from when he was in high school. That made me start to panic a little bit... it breaks my heart to think that just 3 years out of high school any of my students would say that they didn't know who their counselor was. Fortunately, I had a few of my 2007 and 2008 graduates stop in to visit over the last few days and they have assured me that they won't forget me within the 3 year time period... 4 years, maybe, but definitely not three. :-)

Good luck on your final day of exams!