Graduation Date

Yes! No more school!

Today, June 11th, was the last day of the school year for 2009-2010 and there was a graduating class of four eighth graders: Julian F., Julien G., Irene T. (Me), and Brigette W. As I have posted before, each graduate is going to a different high school. Julian is going to attend The Marin School, Julien is going to attend Sacred Heart Cathedral, I will be attending Oceana High, and Brigette will be attenting School of the Arts.

At the graduation ceremony, Brigette, the school's valedictorian, gave a speech to fellow Hillwood teachers, parents, and students. Following that, the eighth grade and kindergarten graduates got their diplomas. Hillwood School Foundation also awarded three studious students incentive awards: the $200 award goes to Brigette for being valedictorian, the $50 award goes to Zack for being the best in Language, and the $50 award goes to me, Irene, for being the best in Mathematics.

I wish the best to all the graduates: Whichever high school you go to, you all will end up very successful and very good. Go Hillwood's Class of 2010!! I'll miss all of you!



Captions: Above, eighth grade graduates Irene and Brigette are happy to be getting out of school. Right, all four graduates are happy to be together for the last time (well, some haha)

White House Commemorate Concert to Civil Rights Movement

"Jazz speaks for life," said Martin Luther King Jr. at the Berin Jazz Festival. "The blues tell the story of life's difficulties — and, if you think for a moment, you realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph. This is triumphant music."

During difficult times in the Civil Rights Movement, people would often sing to give themselves a sense of hope.

As a part of Black History Month, to celebrate music's effect on the Civil Rights Movement, the White House held a concert: “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement.”

Performers included Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Bernice Johnson Reagon with the Freedom Singers, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, John Mellencamp, Yolanda Adams, Natalie Cole, the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Howard University Choir.

“The civil rights movement was a movement sustained by music was inspired by the movement and gave strength in return.” said President Obama, our first African-American president.

Sources: nytimes.com, NPR
by Brigette W.