Graduation - Throwback Thursday

This week's topic is Graduation (very timely, Amanda Nicole!). 

I'm still in the midst of moving/unpacking/organizing my life house, so I don't have pictures, but I thought I'd still join in and share some memories. 

Kindergarten: None. At least I have no recollection of one nor are there any pictures. 

However, on Tuesday it was my nephew's kindergarten graduation and I do have pictures of that!  My nephew, Jonathan, is an awesome almost 6 year old. When he started pre-school when he was 4 he had very little in the way of attention span. His pre-school teacher (which we grew to really really despise) referred him to be evaluated by Los Angeles Unified to see if he was autistic or had any other "disability". 

LAUSD evaluated him and determined that they would give Jonathan services under the autism spectrum. In order for him to be diagnosed officially he would have to be taken to the Regional Center, which we never did. That didn't affect LAUSD's services to him. 

For the last 2-3 months of pre-school Jonathan was placed in a special education pre-school within LAUSD (his first preschool was a private one not associated with the district). This preschool and the teacher were amazing. Jonathan blossomed and grew incredibly. 

After pre-school he was mainstreamed into a regular Kindergarten. I made sure that he was placed with the same teacher his sister had years before because I knew she was the best person to help guide him into school (as well as, you know, teach him). 

Jonathan has done so well in kindergarten! We are so proud of him. Here are some pictures from graduation:

I was blowing kisses to Jonathan, and he was imitating everything I did. Same for the next picture. 

This is Jonathan with his best friend and his friends' sister. 

He looked so dapper! 

Middle School: I did have an 8th grade graduation. I wore a red dress with hearts on it (all like a velvet material). Our homeroom teacher, Ms. Wormell presented us with our diplomas as we walked across the stage. The school sold balloons and my mom bought me some, but beyond that I don't remember much. 

High School: It's been 12 years, but I somewhat remember this graduation. Ms. Wormell had retired by this point, instead we had Mr. Johnson, whom I butted heads with often - he did get my name right, though. I don't remember what I wore to this graduation, but I do have some memories. My eldest niece was just a couple of months old and my sister and husband came down from San Francisco to be there for me. My best friends' (at the time) brother bought us each a pink lei. and after the ceremony (which included beach ball throwing) we went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. 

That very night we had our grad night which is (traditionally, in SoCal) at Disneyland. We get there around 10pm and stay until 5 in the morning (or so). That was a great night. Maybe I'll make a post about just that another day. 

Maybe one of these days I'll have pictures! 

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