{"id":10285,"date":"2020-06-23T19:07:50","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T18:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/?p=10285"},"modified":"2020-06-23T23:16:30","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T22:16:30","slug":"letter-to-the-class-of-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/?p=10285","title":{"rendered":"Letter to the class of 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<address><em>To the Class of 2020, <\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>First, I want to say how much I will miss you. I&#8217;ve known you all since you were 8 years old, bouncing around my 2nd and 3rd class classroom &#8211; reading, thinking and laughing with me. You indulged me when I made funny voices during reading hour or drama. You indulged me when I asked you to practice \u201cone more time\u201d for our great class performances.<\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>I was so happy that our small school meant I got to teach you as your 4th, 5th and 6th class teacher as well. I loved watching you grow and become the marvellous young adults you are today. You made me so happy to be back in the classroom every day with you. You reminded me then (and now) that this is the best thing about being a teacher.<\/em><\/address>\n<address><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/spark.adobe.com\/video\/xYtnC7cgaJdvR\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Second, I want to tell you how sorry I am. I\u2019m sorry all the traditions you\u2019ve been looking forward to for years are not happening as planned and for now have been put on hold. I remember watching your faces during last year\u2019s graduation and knowing you were all thinking \u201cNext year, next year this will be us!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/address>\n<address><em>Schools are doing their best to get creative, but I sympathise with you knowing you feel that it&#8217;s just not the same. You\u2019re right. It\u2019s not the same and it is not fair. But we can always hold on to our wonderful memories that we have made over the past 4 years.<\/em><\/address>\n<address><em> It is the class of 2020 that will have an amazing story to tell. You&#8217;re all a part of history. <\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>During this pandemic, you\u2019ve been using the technology\u00a0 to raise your voices and share your ideas. You\u2019ve been part of a Sports Week, Art Week and Poetry Week, as well as doing other weekly challenges. You\u2019ve expressed yourselves in so many different ways and it&#8217;s been really enjoyable. <\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>When you are older and look back on this time I hope that you will be proud of how you all moved forward with respect for each other and embraced the challenges ahead of you. Because, really, that\u2019s what all the ceremonies and rituals you\u2019re missing out on are\u2014expressions of deep love, gratitude and affection. <\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>You have laughed, cried and learned with each other for years. You&#8217;ve sweated in classrooms during tests, celebrated your victories and made it through the drama of table quizzes, football finals and our Christmas extravaganzas.<\/em><\/address>\n<address><em> Finally, I want to say thank you. Thank you for being such an incredible class. Fun and inspiring, silly and intelligent. You not only made me a better teacher, but you made me a better person. I\u2019ll always be grateful I got to spend four years of our lives working with you and getting to know you. I am excited to see where you go next. I wish you all the best in Secondary School. <\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>Good Luck on your journey and don&#8217;t be strangers. <\/em><\/address>\n<address><em>Your teacher, Ms. Sweetman\u00a0<\/em><\/address>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\" align=\"LEFT\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To the Class of 2020, First, I want to say how much I will miss you. I&#8217;ve known you all since you were 8 years old, bouncing around my 2nd and 3rd class classroom &#8211; reading, thinking and laughing with &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/?p=10285\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[106,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10285"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10306,"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10285\/revisions\/10306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgabrielsns.ie\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}