We Did It! Graduates once again....

…from December 2015.

A little over two years ago, we sat in the Decatur ISD’s administration building with a few friends and colleagues. We shared a pizza, and frantically listened to Dr. Tam Jones from Dallas Baptist University as he discussed the syllabus for Multiculturalism in Education. It was daunting and unfamiliar, and ultimately the first step on our way to a Master’s of Educational Leadership.

This December, we will walk across the DBU stage to receive that degree with the same friends and colleagues by our side. As we reflect on this journey, we can’t help but feel overjoyed and overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone whom helped us cross that finish line.

When I say, “we,” I’m referring to the cohort that Decatur ISD established through Dallas Baptist University. Because of that partnership, we were able to work through our graduate school coursework face-to-face in the comfort of our own school buildings. We felt a nostalgic connection to DBU since it originated from Decatur Baptist Jr. College. It seemed fate stepped in and gave us a little push. We met once a week, and completed one course at a time. We learned through our experiences and our connections to others. We pushed ourselves to become experts in our field, and documented it all in horrendous APA format. We cried together. We laughed together, and found every way imaginable to celebrate together.  

Now that we are done, we wanted to say thank you together.

First of all, thank you to our colleagues, co-workers, teammates, and wingmen-on-the-job. You endured our Monday complaints, our prayers for snow days when papers and projects were due, and our literal tears during that Research class. You let us interview you, experiment our ideas, and rearrange schedules at the last minute. You’ve earned this degree with us. We want to list all your names here, but you know who you are. We are grateful for your patience, understanding, and support.

Secondly, thank you to our administration and internship supervisors. You had the foresight to create this program, and we are literally wiser because of it. You were transparent in your leadership styles, and helped grow us as teacher leaders within Decatur ISD. While our future opportunities may take us away from Decatur, we cannot help but be thankful for the opportunity.

Lastly, we want to thank our families—our husbands, children, parents, and parents-in-law, because it is through the compromise of all that we were able to put our learning first, and complete this journey.  Every single Monday night for the last two years, you were on your own. You picked up the kids from school, did homework, cooked dinner, washed every dish, drove to music lessons, football practice, ballet lessons—we know the crazy it caused our weekly schedule. We felt the sacrifice to our family. We know it was hard. It was hard for us to put ourselves first every single week. We were wrecked with guilt at missing baseball games or giving sick-kid advice over the phone. But, you told us to keep going. You said you were proud of us. You watched us work, learn, and grow, and said, “just a little while longer—look how far you’ve come.” You prayed for us and with us. Your love gave us the strength to keep going. As we walk across the stage on Graduation Day, we can’t wait to see your faces. We are excited to share the celebration of this journey you helped create. We want you to know that you made this happen. You made the difference to us.

Moving forward, we are more than a cohort of educators from Decatur. We are more than graduates with a Master’s Degree. We are unexpected best friends. We are an amazing team. Document that in APA. Cite it in a footnote. We have all the references and resources for a lifetime.