Foster High School Graduation

The most diverse school district in the country
African-American, Argentinian, Bhutanese, Black, Bosnian, Ethiopian, Hmong, Mexican, Mixed, Samoan, Somali, Vietnamese, White
All have sat in my blue Ikea couch chair.
The loudspeaker warbles the words of the commencement speaker, the daughter of a Bosnian refugee:
We represent the unity of the world

When the principal leads the pledge of allegiance,
I am the only one in my section of the bleachers who knows the words.
But even without reciting it,
they understand the dream, the promise of
liberty and justice for all
because today, their daughter is the first from their family to graduate high school.
This is what they have worked for, yearned for -
for their next generation.

Today they celebrate with
tears,
Congrats Grad! balloons (some float up and away during the ceremony),
layers of peanut butter cup and bubble gum candy leis,
an out-of-tune performance of Pomp and Circumstance,
new high heel shoes,
posters plastered with computer print-out pictures of their grad,
yells and screams and chants
that are occasionally drowned out by the airplanes passing overhead -
this is the town that neighbors SeaTac airport -
where some first arrived from their country,
where others will never walk onto a plane.

For almost every student who proudly hoists up their diploma,
there is one who has not, who will not.

I know both their stories.
She had a baby April, came back to school and finished all her missing work.
He struggled with depression and in the end, could not make it out of bed to come to school.
He won a turn-around scholarship, raising a 0.4 GPA to a 3.4 GPA in two years.
She was suspended three weeks before the end of school for marijuana possession and never came back.
She stayed on the honor roll after her parents kicked her out and she couched surfed with friends.
He got his girlfriend pregnant and left school to start working for diaper money.

Today with their families
we celebrate the victories
the sacrifices
the future plans
the diversity,
and work and yearn for those who are absent.

(The pictures are from 2012 because my 2013 graduation pictures did not turn out as well)