Ava

Quite fitting that our final graduation series post highlights Miss Ava Cook who arrived at Villa di Maria in September 2005 at the age of two.  Over the course of almost eleven years, she spread her kindness in every direction...and then some.  Mrs. Milos, Mrs. Nidhi and Mrs. Rebecca all contributed to Ava's VdM "river," and she will now embark not only on a new journey at a new school, but one in an entirely different city as the Cooks will be moving to Seattle in a few short weeks.Honoring Ava Cook:Graduation SpeechSchool is like a river, carving a learning path, carrying the child through the difficulties and depositing him into the world.In my primary years, I loved the farm material.  I loved to read the labels and put them with the animals.  The big lesson I learned was even when things get a bit weird, try and stay calm.  In primary, lots of weird things can happen, some of which I will never forget.  Most of my weird experiences are unspeakable, and I would rather not describe any of them.In lower elementary, my favorite lesson was the pin maps.  It wasn't the coloring and writing maps you see every day in upper elementary, but almost the same.  In this lesson, you would take these little flags with the country's name on it and stick it where the countries are.  You can spend hours learning the names of different countries and having fun while doing it.  Here my life lesson was to always look deep inside a person and don't assume they are mean.Upper elementary has many lessons but overall my favorite lesson had to be the clauses material, just because it involves writing, and I love to write.  I think I have used the most lined paper over anyone else in the room with my fiction.  My life lesson here is to never give up even when the problems are hard.  Math is not my favorite subject and it is not easy for me, but after lots of attempts I decided that instead of getting frustrated, I will keep trying.  I am so thankful I have a friend who is good at math.  I have also learned to seek out help when you have weakness.To end my speech, I would like to thank all teachers who taught me what I now know, the three or four principals that were here during my years at VdM, and other staff.  I especially want to thank my parents and classmates for supporting me.  I'm so sad that I have to leave this year, and this is where my river at VdM runs into the ocean.Thank you for listening!Ava Cook Little sister support Mrs. Robyn Milos, Ava's Primary Directress, and Mrs. NIdhi Bhojak, Ava's Lower Elementary Directress Ava, two months into her Primary experience