Alison Graduates!

At the beginning of May, Alison turned in her last assignments for her last classes in her masters program. She has toiled for the year and a half - reading books, writing papers and solving problems. All of that while caring for two kids at home, supporting me in my work, and being involved in various church activities. The fruit of the labor is an MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and a wealth of ideas for education development.  You can see some labor bearing fruit here and here.

Alison Perkins, MA Teaching and Curriculum

To celebrate, I arranged a surprise party for Alison.  It was the complete package - a graduation gown, marching to "pomp and circumstance" and Alison giving the key note address.  Since Alison was unaware of the prestigious responsibility, I took the pains to write a commencement speech for her.  She was eloquent, if I do say so myself.  If you have a minute, send Alison an email or FB message of congratulations.

Giving the commencement address.

The question is, of course, "What will she do now?"  The possibilities are endless.  There are naps to be taken, recipes to be explored and books to be acquainted with.  I also have ideas to have her help me at school.  Well, she already has helped me, but now she'll have a bit more time and energy to contribute to my own development as a teacher. Below is the copy of her well-written and eloquent speech:

Alison's Graduation Speech
"We are never more than we were, than before we started the journey" - cheesy and meaningless inspirational quote #426

This month marks a month of many exciting milestones.  My son Gabriel, is celebrating his first birthday, I finished my masters degree, and most important, I am still not pregnant.  As exciting as that last point is, the reason we are gathered here today is to mark the milestone of having finished my masters (and partially to celebrate Gabe's birthday).

The question everyone asks now is "What are you going to do?" I have a lot of dreams and ambitions.  I expect those dreams to come during my afternoon naps which I now have time to take.  I also expect to do most of Josh's lesson planning for him, since I'm so skilled and masterful at planning lessons.  Lastly, I am going to work on getting everyone to call me "Master Alison".

Of course, I would like to thank those here who made that possible.  First, Gabriel, who took 30 minute naps during the afternoon.  Those short times forced me to become a better quicker writer.  Second, Eva, who occasionally shared "her" ipad with me so that I could read my articles.  Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank my strong, handsome, winsome, cool husband from whom I gained all my inspiration.  He even wrote a bunch of papers for me and basically did everything.

I would like to close by saying how thankful I am for everyone here.  Each of you has played a part in my life in some way, and I am grateful that you are here to celebrate with me.