My youngest has reached another milestone in his life. After three years in the REACH program of Regis High School, he has graduated from their program. This program has been the only stable influence in his academic life and probably social life that he has known in the past three years. In his first year, the Talented and Gifted school he went to ran into budgetary and administration problems when they first implemented a middle school program for his batch (seven substitute teachers in the first two months of the year!) Not wanting to risk another year of snafus again, I transferred him to the Catholic School across the street from where we live. He had initially gone to school there for Pre-K and K, before going to the TAG school. Unfortunately, finance and budgeting was the problem in this school. Not through its own fault, but as part of the region’s assessment and planning, the school was closed at the end of the school year. The next nearest Catholic school absorbed some of the students, including most of the rising 8^th graders.

Through all these ordeals, change of schools, loss and adjustment, my youngest had the REACH program with his teachers and friends there for him. He has bonded with these people through three years of Saturdays, three summers at the University of Scranton and at Regis High School. Even after this coming summer’s program for rising 9^th graders, I know he will still have true friends with him as nearly a third of his batch is going with him to Xavier High school. With that in mind, I did not feel a sense of sadness or finality in this graduation ceremony.

The ceremony was the recognition of their achievements over the past three years. There were speeches, prayers, and a very nice AV presentation. The slides had the audio track of Green Day’s “Time of Your Life.” During the ceremony it was stated that the regular student has 180 days in school, the REACH student has 230 days, with the summer program and 6 day school week with the Saturday program. The Certificates of Recognition were handed out by the alumni of the program who attend the core Jesuit High Schools in the city: Regis HS, Xavier HS, Fordham Prep, and Loyola HS. The evening ended with a light reception in the Quad.

My youngest had invited our pastor. He is not only the pastor of our parish, but the person who had nominated my son into this program. He’s known my son since preschool days, and even while in public school, he has seen my son in CCD/Sunday school. He said he can barely count the times he’s seen my son smile, but here he can see him laughing and smiling the night away. I told him about the different schools my youngest had been in, and that he does have friends, but the really close friends are here in REACH.

Two mothers of Regis Students created banners of the saints of the advisory groups that the REACH students were in, Of course I took pictures of my son beside each of the banners of the groups he had been in. (coming soon, Costco, mess up the CD that the pics were on)

Long evening it was my son didn’t really want to go to restaurant anymore. He had chosen Pizza and Brew because it serves his all time favorite: Fusilli ala Lulu. It’s a pasta dish with portabella mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes covered with a cream sauce. Almost every major celebratory event with have for our youngest has us ending up in this restaurant. That night, however, he still wanted to eat this dish. By the time we got there, it was closing time. We went in the next day after school and just ordered a tray. He ate it every day for almost a week!