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作者:无忧,“无限空间”之《星辰大海:美国闺蜜圈》主播,一名定居美国南加州十一年的曾经的文艺女青年。
2017年6月16号,我的女儿高中毕业啦!这一天也是她在美国生活学习十年零三个月的日子!
美国高中毕业典礼十分隆重,在这浓浓的氛围里,我激动的一次次想流泪。
这张照片是申请美国签证过程中带她去北京体检。时间显示:2007年1月22日。
十年前七周岁的女儿,随着我带着四个大行李箱漂洋过海来到美国。那时的她在国内刚刚读完小学二年级上学期,连26个英文字母都背不全。如果那时候有人告诉我"你的女儿将来会以全校第二名的成绩高中毕业",我一定会不以为然的认为人家是在揶揄我。
然而今天,我的女儿通过自己一步一个脚印的努力,高中四年600个学生她以学术第一的成绩领跑了近三年半,最后以GPA5.2的成绩毕业,做妈妈的从心底里骄傲!
更让我骄傲的是,高中四年,她通过参加各种各样的学校和社团活动,养成了很好的学习习惯,拥有了高效的管理时间的技能,也成长为一个非常有社会责任感非常有担当的年轻人。
女儿跟我说高中四年给她最大的改变是:过去我常常觉得很多需要改善的事情都会有别人去做,而现在我愿意成为那个人,哪怕是用自己的力量做很小的改变,我也会去努力。
这两张照片是降落美国洛杉矶国际机场拍的。时间显示北京时间2007年3月15日,美国西部时间2007年3月14日。
十年,弹指一挥间!感觉这些照片是我不久前刚刚拍下的,那时的她笑起来很腼腆。
那天我在Facebook上发了女儿毕业照片,一个十年前第一次见过我女儿的亲戚留言道:I remember this little girl, who was leaning English, and watching "Hanna Montana"! 是啊,十年前的这个小女孩还不会说英文,每一天都在看迪士尼频道麦莉.赛勒斯主演的青少年情景喜剧"汉娜·蒙塔娜"。
在美国上小学二年级第一张成绩单,她的英文水平远远落后于加州同年级孩子。而很快她就突破了语言关,到了小学四年级她就成功进入了GATE(gifted and talented education)所谓的天才班。
黑色实线是加州同年级孩子平均水平,黑色实点是我家闺女所在的位置。
我常常觉得很好奇:一个语言不通不能游刃有余表达自己想法的孩子,为什么每一天上学都那么开心呢?为什么脸上的笑容却越发自信了呢?
我的老公,我家的政委,在孩子的成长过程中付出了很多心血!
高中毕业颁奖典礼,女儿一次次上台。
这是她在全校前20名表彰会上的发言。她自己写的发言稿总共近5分钟,全文我抄录下来,有感兴趣的朋友可以看看,看不懂的可以复制用谷歌翻译看明白大意。
Good evening everyone. Before going into my speech, I’d like to start with a quote by Art Williams. "I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy, I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it." Although it’s printed on everything from candles to walls to aesthetically pleasing instagram posts, I believe that it’s quite encompassing of the group of people in this room. None of us are here today because we chose to take the easy route. No, we are here because we share one common characteristic. We strive for excellency and we all push each other to perform to the best of our abilities. Sure, we don’t always get the scientists-recommended 9 hours of sleep per night nor do we have the most invigorating social lives, but the results of our hard work makes it mostly worth it. Like laughing at Mrs. Remington’s unending math puns or jumping at the sound of Stewart teaching his class. Although there’s been difficult moments of cramming for finals and scrambling to hit that word limit, it’s been a memorable few years to say the least.To the parents, I know that it can’t be easy dealing with this group of trouble-makers, staying up late at night glued to their laptops and falling asleep at their desks. I mean, we’re such a rebellious bunch of teenagers. On a more serious note, thank you to all the parents for providing us all with endless love, support, and food during this stressful period of our lives. And thank you for all the little things you do for us whether that be driving to the store last minute to pick up some printer ink or driving us to school last minute because we overslept and hit the snooze a few too many times. Without your unconditional support, there is no way that we would be sitting in this room today, and I know that many of us may not show it, but we genuinely appreciate all that you do and the sacrifices you make for us.To the freshmen, congratulations on surviving your first year of high school; you have no idea what’s in store for you. Trust me when I say that you will be seeing a lot of the people sat around you in the next three years. Be prepared for more late nights. And by late I mean nights where you stay up past 10:30. High school really does flash by in the blink of an eye, so take advantage of it to learn both in and out of the classrooms because those are the memories and experiences that you will be taking with you in the future.To the sophomores, you’ve overcome yet another year of high school and the next two will not be any easier... sorry to dash your hopes and dreams like that. You’ve overcome the awkward transition from middle school to high school and you’ve also graduated to the upper quad where I know I never dared to go when I was a Freshman. Your success thus far is absolutely fantastic and I applaud you all for your hard work.To the juniors, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know many of you outside of the classroom and I can say with confidence that you are some of the most high-achieving people I know. You’ve nearly completed three of the four years of high school with stellar grades and tonight you will receive yet another piece of paper to prove it. Beware of the common misconception that senior year is easier. Trust me when I say that it’s not. Nevertheless, I wish you the best of luck in those upcoming AP and IB exams that I probably shouldn’t have reminded you of...Sorry.And to my seniors. What an absolute rollercoaster it’s been these last four years and there is no other group of people that I would rather graduate alongside than all of you. All the groggy 1 AM skype calls of last minute test cramming and the sudden dread of the "oh no that’s due today?"s during tutorials have generated some pretty unforgettable memories. Together we’ve bonded through our little mental breakdowns and frantic revisions. We’ve all discovered people that inspire us to start writing essays prior to the night before it’s due and the people that we can rely on for help on the subjects that we struggle in. You are all such intelligent, high-achieving, and talented individuals and I’m happy to call so many of you my friends. I’m sure that one day, Bonnie, I’ll see one of your name in countless newspaper articles because you were the first to find a cure for cancer, establish world peace, and have a math equation named after you. Or Taylor, I might just see you on the cover of American Fencing Magazine or perhaps running for President of the United States. On a more serious note, congratulations on all of your achievements over the last four years; I don’t know where we will be a year from now but I do know that you will continue to succeed in all that you set your minds to.Lastly, I’d like to leave you with one of my favorite quotes from William Shakespeare if only because it would be strange to give a speech without mentioning him at least once given that we’ve probably read all nine million of his plays and sonnets. "Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." Thank you very much.
作为学校少数的优秀IB毕业生(国际认证的高中毕业文凭),她荣耀的穿上了金色毕业礼袍,在一片蓝色海洋中分外抢眼。
这是正式毕业典礼之前的非正式典礼。
正式的毕业典礼在学校橄榄球场举行,女儿穿着金色袍子走在队伍的最前面。
我爸爸妈妈能亲自参与到外孙女的毕业典礼中,内心无比激动!
毕业典礼上,校长花费了1分20秒隆重介绍了我的女儿,介绍了她在高中四年参加的各种社团组织,担任的重要职务,高中四年她分别获得了生物、历史、西班牙语和英语的最优秀学生奖。这个奖项每一年每一个学科只有一个,只颁发给最优秀的学生!
高中四年,208个星期,1460天,17520个小时。现在回过头看是弹指一挥间,但这其中有多少个挑灯夜读的不眠之夜啊!
我常常跟女儿说:我不在乎你是不是考第一,也不在乎你能不能读名牌大学,我在乎的是你是不是努力了。努力过了,结果都无所谓了。高中的成就已经过去了,它能说明你高中的努力获得了回报。人生每一个阶段都拥有这样的小成功,你的整个人生就是成功无悔的。
我亲爱的女儿,我由衷的为做你的妈妈而感到自豪!!
祝福我的女儿!祝愿你走好未来的每一步!!希望你未来更努力更阳光更快乐!!
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