Graduation Ceremony

This is the first year we have had our graduation ceremony at home in our own back yard, and the first year we invited the whole school for our end of the year celebration. The graduates each received a diploma, designed by Hadley Solomon, a beautiful batik shirt with our very own logo, created by Eric Maiorana, and a bilingual book, “Carlos and the Squashplant”. Parents of graduates were also honored with a rose for their participation and commitment to their children’s education. Academic studies consistently show that parent involvement is the number one predictor of a child’s success in school. In that case, our cooperative is on the right track!
Everyone brought fastastic food, and the cakes were spectacular, and not a crumb left. We had a great live band, fronted by our own Justin Goodman ( or JusGoodie to the initiated) on guitar, Ryan Spinharney on keyboards, Ray Stewart on flute, and Amiru Serawaji on drums. The band even played the “Dale, Dale Dale” song, as the children gave their best efforts to breaking the indestructible pinata! It was truly a beautiful sight to see all of our families together, enjoying each other on the last day of the year.
I want to give a very special thanks to a couple of departing families, whose support we relied on every day throughout the year. The family Cerna – Lilia & Rene, and the boys Jonathan, Randy and Andy – have taken care of our chickens (“the girls”), seven days a week, 365 days a year, through snow and cold and stormy weather. They have cleaned and pruned our yard, shoveled the walks when it snowed, and been there daily when we did not have a cooper, or whenever we needed extra help. I also want to honor Ashley Aitkin and Dave Rosenberg, parents of Jack. Ashley, as our membership person, was the first person prospective families talked to. She has been the “voice” of New Horizons, and kept track of everything and everyone! She also was very willing to jump in to fill any gaps that we had. Her husband Dave created this incredible website, out of his love and creativity, and spent months tweaking, changing, and accepting suggestions. He was also our “man with the mojo” when our computer or printer went on the blitz. He could simply wave his hands over it, and make it all work again. Thank you, and thank you, for your extraordinary service. Your love and commitment will be missed!

We are now looking forward to summer school, which will begin this year on June 25th. We have lots of great adventures planned, including trips to the lake, horseback riding, tubing, Flagstaff, and some great days in our own back yard, enjoying sand and water, and lots of creative work making wood sculptures, batik, tie-dye, and more! We do have a few more spots, if you want to attend. Please enjoy your families during the break.

The Pinata song:

” Dale, dale, dale,
no pierdes el tino;
porque si lo pierdes,
pierdes el camino.
Ya le diste una,
Ya le diste dos;
Ya le diste tres,
y tu tiempo se acabo!”

which means:

“Hit it, hit it, hit it (or “go, go, go”)
Don’t lose your aim
Because if you lose it
You will lose the path,
You’ve hit once,
You’ve hit it twice
You’ve hit it three times
And your time is up!”