The Middle School Promotion Ceremony closed out the school year with awards recognitions, musical performances, and the presentations of the promotion certificates to the eighth grade students. Following the tradition started last year, the Middle School academic staff chose one student, Kaitlyn Morgan ‘23, to speak to her classmates about the year that they had shared, and give some advice for the future.
Kate spoke of how much she initially looked forward to the independence of dorm life, but she quickly realized the discipline and the structure that were in place. Although she knows dorm life in college will be different, she felt that the self-discipline she has learned and the experience of living away from home have already helped her prepare for being away from home in college.
“But the dorm is not the whole school,” she quickly added. “Teachers here truly believe in you. If you have any trouble with anything, they're here to guide you and be your voice when you feel like you do not have one.”
Kate went on to say, “Other than regular things that teachers have to teach us, like vocabulary, important times in history, challenging math equations, and even creativity, I've learned the true meaning behind grit this year. Grit: courage and resolve, strength of character. Every single one of our teachers teach us grit on a daily basis. Even the dorm staff is teaching us grit. They teach us to persevere and to keep our room clean, and it keeps us disciplined. In this school, grit is shown in many ways: in schoolwork, in sports, and even in personality. The teachers can tell if you don't use all your effort in something and they will constantly be on you and help you to become above-average.”
Kate recounted the ultimate example of grit this school year, when the girls’ basketball team held on to win the Valley Middle School Conference championship. Throughout the year, and especially through the hard-fought basketball season, Kate developed new levels of friendships.
“Being at R-MA has taught me new views of teamwork and friendship. At R-MA, everyone has such a tight bond, that can’t be seen anywhere else. We make true friendships that can be for a season, a year, or hopefully a lifetime, but at least we cherish every single moment together.”
Kate closed out her speech by saying, “Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, ‘What lies behind us, what lies ahead of us, are small matters compared to what lies within us.’ This has great importance to me, because looking in the past to see what you could have done, or looking in the future of what you should be doing, can never have the same effect on you as what you're doing in the present.”
This year’s two Aim High Award recipients were Yu Bai ‘23 and Jiseong Choi ‘23. The 26 eighth graders received their certificates with pride, then proceeded onto the next major event in their young lives: the summer before high school.