Saying Goodbye

Well today marks the last day of school!! A day that I have looked forward to for the past 181 school days! Though now that it is upon me I must say there is a part of my that will miss those kids!! You know that old saying, "You just don't know what you have til its gone." Yeah well truth be told...I had no idea what I had! Yesterday after school I had predicted my mood to be that of rejoicing and gladness, of extreme anticipation for what today held in store, but...after saying good bye to my two favorite classes who took their finals yesterday...I was...SAD!! Let me explain the warmth in my heart via a play-by-play of yesterdays events. Yesterday was the day that my first hour class had to take their final. A few of them made it to class early, sat in the "projects" and decided they wanted to reminisce these last 181 days with me. It turned into a discussion of the things they learned/will remember from biology class (which of course very few of these things were related at all to biology):
Male student: "You know what I learned in here Mrs. Kunz? I learned that in this world there are winners AND there are losers!!"
Me: Soooooo...
Male student: "So you better get good at being both!!" (Yeah, he was my favorite student of the year!!)
Female student #1: "No, what I will remember about Mrs. Kunz is that YOU HAVE TO HAVE A FAVORITE EVERYTHING!!"
Me: Or else...
Female student #1: "Or else, life is just TOO BORING!!"
Male student: "Yeah last night my brother (twin brother) and I were studying for biology (they of course had two different teachers, which is what he finds funny about this situation) and he was quizzing me. He asked me who the guy was that studied the pea plants, and I yelled out PAPA GENETICS!!!" (we all busted up laughing...he was of course referring to Gregor Mendel)
Female student #1: "Oh yeah, every time I think of him (which I am sure is often) I think about how he is your Biology Boyfriend...yep your Bio BF!!" (at this point I am laughing incredibly hard...oh the things they choose to remember!)
Male Student: "Mrs. Kunz would it be alright if we gave you a nickname...I mean we have Papa Genetics...I think you have to be Mama Bio!!" (more laughing!!)
Female Student #2 (preface: one of the flightier girls I have ever met): "Wait, I have one...I will always remember that there IS a such a thing as a stupid question!"
Female student from the back of the room: "Yeah, because you asked most of them!!"
Female student #2 just shrugs her shoulders and laughs...yeah she knew it was true!!

After the final was over the conversation all too quickly went into "When are you going to have a kid...we totally get to help name them!!" This stems from a topic that had been frequently visited throughout the school year whenever I came to a vocabulary word that I thought would make a good name for a kid...of course usually joking...but they took the game to heart and would try to beat me to saying it. Words like: Boreal, chaparral, flora, fauna...there was the given Gregor Mendel...Charlie (for Charles Darwin)...Watson and Crick (if I had twin boys)... Well [Male student] had apparently been pondering this and wanted to make sure he got his last suggestion in before the end of the year, "Mrs. Kunz I think you need to give some serious consideration to the name 'Gena' for a girl but spelled off the word 'genome.'" I thought that was a really good one...one of the more creative and even potential-holding names that was thrown out there all year!! I congratulated him and told him I would run it by Ben. Oh, and if you think this particular conversation was confined only to first hour... it was had in 3 of the 4 classes I saw yesterday...YEAH!!

Oh, and I did actually have one student in another class stay after and THANK ME...under his breath!! Really smart kid...just that he also happened to be a really lazy kid and, of course, needed to pay no attention to responsibility in the form of homework...which was resulting in a very low failing grade. Being as I don't accept late work, this was a problem... for there appeared to be no way out for him. Well, out of the grace and mercy pool, I made a deal with his study hall teacher that he would be spend the last two weeks of study hall in my room...in the middle of another one of my class he would have to walk in, grab a desk in the back of the room, pull it to the front of the room so that it was touching my desk, and sit in front of the class and do worksheet after worksheet, after assignment after assignment... to which I refused to give full credit to--since full credit could have been taken advantage of when it was originally assigned!! Anyways, he thanked me for helping out with his grade (ended up a D-) and for showing him he "didn't deserve to fail." I stopped him right there and informed him that he DID deserve to fail--as lazy as he was... but... for the amount of biology he knew (got an A on the final) he did NOT deserve to fail!! He of course promised to do better in Chemistry next year.

After each class finished their finals, and right before the bell would ring I ended each class the way I would ended a number of Fridays: with a speech that plays off some words of wisdom given to me by my dear ole' DAD: "Have a FANTASTIC summer and remember... make good choices... have a positive influence on someone... root for the underdog... be a friend to the friendless... smile at someone and mean it..." At this they would all laugh and roll their eyes... but I sure hope some of it sunk in!!!