Friday, June 27, 2008
Page 15
AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)
A Cowgirl Grows Up
By J’AMY PACHECO
You want all the dreams they dreamed of to come true…
Then they do.
—Trace Adkins
Seven years ago, I watched my little girl receive her first diploma. To be honest, it wasn’t actually a diploma – it was a copy-machine produced certificate commemorating her promotion from pre-school to kindergarten.
I still have the picture in my head of my then-five-year-old walking across a backyard “stage,” shaking her teacher’s hand, and announcing to the audience, “When I grow up, I want to be a cowgirl.” What is perhaps most notable about that declaration (besides the fact that we don’t own horses or any other livestock) is that every little girl who followed her also announced a desire to be a cowgirl. I guess that’s how things work in pre-school.
The following spring, I watched her walk across a real stage to receive another certificate — this one promoting her from kindergarten to first grade. Since that meant moving only from the part of the campus that had a colorful frog-themed play structure to the land of tetherball and soccer nets, the ceremony was pretty much for show only. But it was still sweet and emotional.
I couldn’t help thinking of the tiny girl who made those two trips across the stage when I watched her repeat the action last week. This time, she wore a white two-piece suit, holding a microphone with confidence and ease as she announced her future plans to the assembled parents. She will, she asserted, attend “The University of Southern California, also known as USC, to study engineering and design.” She will then “get an internship with Disney and become a Disney Imagineer designing shows and rides.”
No hesitation, no doubts, and no mention of the cowgirl.
After the ceremony, we retired to the classroom to watch a PowerPoint presentation made up of hundreds of photos of her class from their first day at what was then a brand new school, in fourth grade, through fifth grade and sixth. There were pictures of the day they got to wear Halloween costumes to school, of field trips and playground activities, and many from that memorable week when we all went to fifth grade science camp in Cambria.
Since hers was a very small school, this class had largely been together for three years. Watching the PowerPoint, we laughed at how much some of the students had changed as they made the progression from baby-faced fourth graders to ‘tweens headed for middle school. With songs like “I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life” and “Do I Make You Proud?” playing as background music, it was inevitable that nearly everyone would end up in tears.
I don’t know what is harder for me to believe – that I will likely never see some of those kids again, or that they’re all headed for the “other world” of middle school.
They came from all over our region, and since there is no similar specialized of school for them to attend next year, they’ll be scattering back to their neighborhood schools. My daughter will attend a school nine miles from our home, and I know of only one other classmate who will transfer with her. Fortunately, it’s her best friend.
I hope taking a pal along will help ease her transition into middle school. The transition from elementary school to middle school is drastic enough. Added to that is the fact that my daughter will be going from a 100-student school, with only 32 sixth graders, to a school of nearly 1,000 students. Although she spent two terms as student body president, represented her school at functions throughout the school district, tutored younger students and made a name for herself as an outstanding student, she’ll be starting from scratch.
Me too. At her old school, I knew all of the teachers and administrators. I wouldn’t hesitate to pick up the phone or send an e-mail to voice a concern or ask a question.
At her new school, I know exactly two people: my daughter, and her best friend. That’s a scary thought for a mother.
I thought kindergarten was the cutest stage ever, and I couldn’t imagine liking anything as much. But I’ve loved every minute of her development, right up to the camaraderie in the sixth grade classroom last week.
I just have difficulty reconciling that little cowgirl-wannabe with the future Imagineer in the white suit. As the song says, you want all their dreams to come true…then they do.
And here they come — ready or not.
Copyright 2008, Metropolitan News Company