Tag: graduation

For My 2024 Graduates

The end-of-school traditions have passed and are now just a warm memory for all of us. Once again, my group worked their way into being “seniors” as the months moved by, and I am proud of their accomplishments. As always, we celebrated with some cookies, a book, and presents.

One of the traditional gifts for each group is a poem that I write for them. This year’s poem almost didn’t happen because the inspiration hit very late, but on the night before their last day, I had an idea that fell onto the page and created the following poem. My graduates will see nods to some of the writings and readings that we completed this year, and I am happy to share. Congratulations to the Eastern Greene High School Class of 2024!

Explore the Freedom

The child rolled around, kicking air

and grasping for the primary-colored toys

until a shaky flop over landed belly-first where

hands and knees coordinated into an Army crawl

giving legs a chance to grow stronger so that

the muscles could begin to understand balance and 

explore the freedom of movement.

Then

The child walked into the mouth of the brick

building, being brave and scared, nervous 

and excited to meet the teachers even though

the best part seemed to be the classmate with a

wide grin that showed a front-and-center missing tooth

when the swing on the playground catapulted the 

small bodies to the curved dome of the sky and 

the letters and numbers on the pages stood tall

enough to make meaning and urge the budding minds to

explore the freedom of expanding.

Then

The child leveled slitted eyes of anger that

bubbled up from a gut full of questions and hurt toward the

crowd as pre-teen peers who were supposed to be buddies 

pointed and laughed which accidentally leaked the

truth that all of them were awkward jars of hormones

without a clue but who miserably wrestled to be

seen and heard and accepted which showed how they’d

explore the freedom of self-understanding.

Then

The child signed up for classes to meet requirements that

sucked the life out of learning and heaped pressure on 

shoulders that turned out to be broad enough to 

shuffle responsibilities and have a bit of fun as some

of the lessons ignited a bursting charge of booms and

fizzy sparklers and a pull to watch and gain more 

of the talents where confidence continued developing to

explore the freedom of knowledge.

Now

The graduate walks toward the opening of the stage

with a cautious step, afraid that someone will actually 

see the child hiding under the gown and entering the mouth 

of the brick building where this whole process started while 

tassels bob and smack eyes which creates distractions from 

the moment that is as big as the gym floor where classmates throw

air-quoted cliches at each other and promise to keep in touch as 

names are called and pictures posted of these robe-wearers ready to 

explore the freedom of their future.

Lori Vandeventer

May 16, 2024

Written for my EGHS 2024 Graduates

Truth Telling for My 2022 Graduates

May 21 was a very special day for the Class of 2022 from my school. Graduation day. Faculty and staff in my district worked diligently for the past thirteen years to ensure that this day would happen for our students. I know their families are excited and feeling bittersweet emotions connected to a day of commencement. I am proud of these graduates, and following tradition, I wrote a poem for my students and shared it with them earlier in the week before their ceremony. Actually, this year’s poem turned into a second one as well. The message is the same, but my advice moved into a personal connection in the 2.0 version. 

My grandmother kept succulents, known as mother hen and chicks in our family. Even though she passed when I was four years old, I have always felt a connection to her through these plants. I took a few from the home my grandfather shared with her when I married and started my life as an adult. Since then, I’ve had descendants from her plants at every home my husband and I have inhabited, and I’ve given away hundreds of them because sharing makes the original plants more prosperous. I imagine that’s how my grandmother’s love is still moving through me. That’s how love works. 

Each member of my current class of graduates received a chick from my home. They carried those little babies around all day, caring for them already. Likewise, I want my students to know that God loves them and cares for them with great strength.

My prayer is for my words to be encouraging and be a reminder to all who read them. The poems are to honor the Class of 2022, but I hope they can be a blessing to all readers. 

To this year’s second period gang, Congratulations, my loves!

You Know I Tell You the Truth 1.0

The days and months and years that lay ahead 
of you will be full of challenges. You will make plans 
and work to fulfill dreams of which 
only some will come to fruition. 
Problems will be in those future days. 
You will believe the best of life will come 
when you finish school or 
fall into a new love 
or become healthier or secure the new job. 
But don’t trust those lies 
whether you say them or someone tries to convince you.

You can’t just be anything you want to be. 
You won’t save another person from their own choices. 
You shouldn’t expect flowers and rainbows 
to fill your universe with opportunity. 
You won’t see a perfect path paved and ready 
for your diligent and sincere efforts to 
shape the life you intend to live. 
This old world is far bigger
 and treacherous and set in its ways 
than you can imagine. 
You might search for an item or a guru or a pill
when the pressure lays on your lungs. 
If your mind is passive, you will struggle to 
breathe the next breath.

You know I tell you the truth. 

So, what’s the plan to survive in the next moments or
days or months or years? 
A secret I know can help you. 
Will you commit to an active, attentive mind? 
A turn from frivolous notions, 
from a passive observation of yourself? 

When you think
…your efforts should guarantee success
…other people keep you from gaining ground
…the world’s red tape and rules force you into 
a holding pattern
…your gossip and drama are harmless
…all of the pressures push against you, then

Change your conduct which will 
Change your thinking which will
Change your feelings which creates

Hope.

Prove your hope against whatever 
the world throws at you by 
first changing your own actions. 

The secret of hope is more powerful 
than the darkness of this world. 
Overcome the hard seasons and cling to hope 
and family and joy 
even in the middle of difficult times.

You don’t need to conform to your past ignorance, 
squeezed into the culture around you. 
You don’t have to worry about being liked or noticed or powerful. 
Choose actions that prove your knowledge and character. 
Choose to be kind and loving and honorable. 
Help without being asked. 
Show others patience and honesty and sincerity. 

I promise that in your future, bad events will happen, 
so don’t be surprised or angry or hurt. 
Humans flounder.
In these moments, you can turn negative into hope, 
respond with gentleness and respect,
be different from the crowd. 

I don’t subscribe to the secret of hope at times. 
In the misery of problems, my actions take 
my mind into a dark place where my emotions 
suffocate me. 
I can’t find hope in this place, and you won’t find it there, either. 

So, focus your actions to direct your mind and emotions
and find your hope.

Hope is the answer. 

You are on this fast-spinning earth for a reason. 
You have a mission and a group of people who need you. 
Your butterfly effect will change the world. 

You know I tell you the truth.


Lori Vandeventer
May 15, 2022


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Truth 2.0: The Mother Hen and Chicks

The mother hen sat alone
waiting.
Her chicks would soon depart, and she
wondered 
what she would tell them about
challenges, plans, 
and work to fulfill dreams 
of which only some will come true. 

She is certain of future trials 
for her chicks,
certain some will believe
the old lies of how the best of life 
will finally arrive--when
they crack open from the shell or 
fall into a new love 
or roam far from the safety of her wings. 
The mother hen knows to not
trust those lies 
no matter whose hungry mouths say the words.

This old world is far bigger
and treacherous and set in its ways 
than any chick can imagine. 

So, what’s the plan to survive in the next moments or
days or months or years? 
A secret the mother hen knows. 
Requiring an active, attentive mind, 
a turn from frivolous notions, 
from a passive observation. 

A change of conduct will 
change thinking which will
change feelings which creates

Hope.

The secret of hope is more powerful 
than the darkness of this world. 

The mother hen knows to choose actions 
of knowledge and character, 
of kindness and love and honor. 
She wants her chicks to help 
without being asked,
to show patience and honesty and sincerity. 

Future, bad events will happen
to her chicks.
Still, she doesn’t want them
surprised or angry or hurt. 

In these moments, the negative can turn into hope
if her chicks
respond with gentleness and respect,
differently from the crowd. 

As the mother hen sits alone, she remembers
when she didn’t subscribe to the secret of hope. 
In the misery of problems, her actions led
into a dark place where 
emotions suffocated. 
Neither mother hens nor chicks
find hope in that place.

But, she knows how it feels to focus actions,
direct her mind and emotions
and find hope.
She knows that her chicks will 
sprout up,
peeking, at first, and then pushing through to surround her,
filling the space with beauty.
Her chicks, smart and capable, will 
continue, circle after circle, to 
choose actions
and adjust their thinking to settle their emotions into
hope.

Hope is the answer. 

Her chicks are on this fast-spinning earth for a reason 
with a mission.
And the mother hen knows their
butterfly effect 
will change the world. 


Lori Vandeventer
May 15, 2022