Hello everyone! Thank you for being here today to celebrate this year’s stepping up and graduating students. This day is always a bittersweet one as we celebrate all their accomplishments and all their hard work while also preparing to say good-bye as they join new classrooms and start a new chapter. They’ve earned their key of knowledge, completed their Elementary cycle, and are graduating from the Adolescent Program. Today’s celebration signifies a big change for these students. Change can be exciting or change can be intimidating. Change can be exciting AND intimidating. But, these students are Montessori students. They are well equipped to handle change. They are self-guided, decision-making, problem solvers capable of adapting to new environments, new routines, and new people. We should look to them as our role models for accepting and adapting to change because they do it with such grace. They embrace change with thoughtfulness and openness. This adaptability is such an important life skill they hone while at MSLF, because as the saying goes…the only constant in life is change. They will experience change in abundance throughout their lives. Not as obstacles but rather as opportunities. John F. Kennedy once said, “Change is the law of life. Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” Through change we grow. Much like our celebrants today, our school is changing too. We’re growing and we’re adapting. I am excited to announce the addition of a fourth Primary classroom in the Fall of 2024 to serve our growing community. Thanks to the success of this year’s Annual Spring Benefit we will also be debuting our new Music Enrichment Program in the Fall of 2024, which will benefit students of all ages. And, there’s more… we are also very much looking forward to the construction of a new Outdoor Education building to support our incredible Outdoor Education Program which will provide Ms. Whitney a dedicated space for lessons when the weather does not allow them to work outdoors. We are so grateful to the entire MSLF community for your support which makes these exciting changes possible. And as we adapt to new spaces, welcome new staff members and new students, and adjust to new schedules or routines – we’ll look to our role models here today. I can confidently say I speak for everyone here when I say how proud we are of these incredible leaders. The community you enter next is extremely lucky to be gaining you as a member as you will be gifting them your curiosity, your compassion, your creativity and simply your company. May you always hold a place in your heart for MSLF. Please join me in congratulating all our stepping up and graduating students today. In closing, I would like to thank all of you for being a part of the MSLF community. Thank you to all the parents for finding and choosing MSLF for your children and for supporting them and the school during their time here. Thank you to all the grandparents, aunts and uncles, siblings, and special friends who have offered their support as well. Thank you to the faculty and staff for their dedication and hard work to provide the best possible Montessori education to our students. And finally, thank you to our incredible students for your grace, your independence, your leadership, your ambition, and your kindness. You are why we are all here. You are why we do what we do. You give us joy and you give us hope. And with that, please join me in one final congratulations to all our stepping up and graduating students.  Congratulations graduates!