By Colleen Joyce

On Wednesday, June 15, the Friendship Academy’s Class of 2016 celebrated Movin’ Up Day. Movin’ Up Day is the Friendship Academy’s graduation ceremony. It was held this year at the Tucker and Perry Gresh Center, where Friendship Academy classes are also held. The hour-long ceremony took place outside and began at 1:00 PM. Dan Benonis, the Friendship Academy’s music therapist, welcomed students and their families with a lively arrangement of upbeat songs at the beginning of the ceremony. Everyone clapped along as the students began taking their seats and preparing for the graduation. Even some of our staff members came out to join in on the fun!

Afterwards, Mary Berlin made a commencement speech for the Class of 2016. All the teachers, teacher assistants, and therapists who worked with the students throughout the year watched on with excitement. Although the teachers of Classroom F and Classroom G were happy to see their students grow up and move on, they also couldn’t help but be a little sad to see them go.

After the commencement speech, the students were finally ready to graduate. Proud parents, family members, and friends watched as each member of the Class of 2016 received a diploma. All the children were excited to move on and smiled as they saw their fellow classmates graduate. Likewise, their parents, family, and friends will surely cherish the moment they got to see all the children shake hands with Mary and receive their diplomas.

After the ceremony, cake and punch were served to parents, family, and friends as everyone took pictures and said their goodbyes. All the graduates even got one last chance to play with their friends and teachers in the school’s playground after graduation was over! Some family members and graduates stayed after the ceremony to watch a slideshow of pictures and music that chronicled different moments during the year. The graduates reminisced with their family, fondly remembering all the new friends they made and all the new things they learned throughout the year!

Movin’ Up Day was an exciting and fun celebration! We couldn’t have done it without our staff though! We are sure that our incredible teachers, teacher assistants, and staff have prepared each graduate for their new schools and a lifetime of joy. We hope that our lessons involving a variety of disciplines, including reading, math, art, music, science, and technology have well-equipped students with reaching their future goals. The members of the Friendship Academy family also hope that our diverse range of students have made the future generations of children more compassionate and understanding members of society. The Friendship Academy would like to thank the parents and guardians of each graduate since they allowed us to play, learn, love, and grow with their wonderful children. We will miss them all! Congratulations to the Class of 2016!