8th GRADE GRADUATION SPEECH 2012 - Tandem Friends School

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also about how he brought a sense of humor and history to our production by impersonating a sixties stoner. There’s the tale of top-hatted and terrific Tobias, who lurked by a rained-on tree just so he could shake the branches and drench passersby on campus. (Thanks for that Tobias!) And how he learned (along with Eli, Ben, Carson and Alec) Google Sketch Up to make a 3D model of his house design in Christine’s class. No easy task! How about the poem of jovial Jack, who despite his sometimes seemingly ornery exterior, happily reached nirvana in the Indian restaurant in NY – unable to leave the table, still stuffing his mouth full of spicy food, an Indian grandmother lovingly heaping free rice pudding upon him while everyone else waited patiently on the sidewalk. And there’s the story of kind-hearted Kai, who will belly laugh any time I mention two words from one of my childhood stories as I impersonate an Indian cook, and who was kind enough to include me in her Anime world as a character by the name of India. There’s the saga of enigmatic Ethan and talented Tommy who devised a way of telling one of Jesus’ parables in Godspell that I’m pretty sure has never been done before – the infamous interpretive dance of the Rich Man’s parable complete with leaps, twirls and pelvic thrusts. This dance was also enthusiastically re-enacted in front of a Broadway star in NYC. I was so proud…and as a precursor to this, who can forget Tommy’s song of the unitard in the Black Box? There’s the fable of fabulous Phoebe (whose name means bright and shining – I looked it up) whose daring deeds this year include mastering the Spelling Bee at school and Mad Libs on the train and bringing a voice to the song Beautiful City that she didn’t even know she had – bright and shining! There’s the story of groovy Gwen, who generated one of the most heart-wrenching theatrical moments of the year as she hugged our Jesus goodbye in Godspell and how she playfully portrayed one of my “babies” in our ongoing improv at the zoo in DC. There’s the story of sweet and surprising Savannah, saavy with filmmaking and acting and friendships and who can make me laugh with just a grin, like we’re sharing a funny joke that has no punch line but doesn’t need one. And how at the start the of the 7th grade tree unit, Christine remembers being taught some new things by Savannah (along with Kai and Saunder) who had gone to nature camp earlier that summer. They looked at the trees on campus and shared all sorts of interesting stories about how different plants can be used as food or medicine. There’s the tale of boisterous and burgeoning Ben and that terrible Halloween night – when he and Ethan believed in God and ghosts at the same time and how I empathized with the fear, wonder and anger when an upper school girl revealed herself neither as god nor ghost. And how in Christine’s class they both built a mousetrap car out of two LP's and she didn't think they could do it but they did. It didn't work at first and she thought
they might hurt themselves. But they persevered and made a car that went across the gym floor and almost out the door. There’s the story of awesome, approachable Alec and how as a new 8 th grader he courageously sang a solo in Godspell with a voice pure and soulful and danced with abandon and how he became a campus movie star in the film Epic Alec. And how he formed an alliance in that show with… Extraordinary Eli, whose story is about his bright, benevolent leadership in the process and performance of Godpsell as well his leadership all over our community. And how Eli’s thirst for knowing the human experience could somehow always get me to tell another story in Advisory. There’s the tale of imaginative Ila, kind and open with a radiant smile and a heartfelt sense of community…It’s the story of how she made a serious film with a serious message for the film festival, working hard on both the artistic angles of the camera and on the editing of the footage to create a powerful piece. There’s the story of impressive Ivan, moving like a fierce warrior on the soccer field and yet on the stage portraying a sweet clown with a heart three sizes too big for his costume and making the audience say, AWWWW…(do you know how special that is?). There’s the song of super Saunder, with unrelenting energy and passion for projects and posters and filmmaking and school and sports and more school and more projects and teaching her tech-stupid drama teacher editing tricks and basically running Film Club and singing like a bird in Quaker Notes and basically being my non-paid assistant for all of <strong>8th</strong> grade and still having a sense of humor with it all. There’s the tale of effervescent Emma, creating really neat things like her sweet drawings for the animated movie called Poor Pin, styling out in her own individual way, starting off Day By Day with a compassion and generosity that set the tone for the whole song. There’s the story of kind and kipper Kacy, athlete exraordinaire, so nimble and energetic on the field….but also on the stage and in film - with hidden and extraordinary talents that appear magically in front of an audience like in Bugsy, Godspell and the BFF film, The Cheater, and with a presence so striking she should continue to find joy on the stage. There’s the novel of magnificent Matthew, playing Story Cubes and laughing on the train with his peers and his teacher and helping to coin the phrase “sufficiently weird” as a way to describe our behavior, of Matthew passionately buying theatrical scores of music in NY and showing French films at school, expanding all our horizons. There’s the song of generous Gita, quiet yet strong. Prompted by the film, Miss Representation, she and several other girls accompanied Christine in a women’s rally in Richmond, finding a voice in fighting the war against women.
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8th GRADE GRADUATION SPEECH 2012 - Tandem Friends School

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