Thanks for participating, Class of 2012

My gift from the Class of 2012

Another year, another class has graduated from St. Mary's.

Saturday night, the Class of 2012 said goodbye to St. Mary's as they gathered as a class for the final time at their graduation dinner dance.

I've now gone to the graduation dinner dance every year since 2007 and this one was a lot different than the others in the previous years.

The class was small, small enough to sit together at one small, but big table.

Raymond and Colleen hosted the event and put together a little presentation for a good hour, which I hadn't seen before by any class.

Each teacher, including myself, who technically isn't a teacher, and according to the yearbook, the sports commissioner, got up there on the microphone and made a little speech about the class and received a little token of appreciation from the class.

There was also a raffle, Raymond's mom and her friends did some traditional Chinese dances, a lot of picture taking and a little dancing by all the graduates at the end.

All in all, a very fun night for the graduates.

This was a first for me, getting on the mic to share my memories and thoughts about the class that was graduating. And in all honestly, this was probably the class I was the least closest with because they had only a basketball team from their years grades 4-8, and only this year did the girls participate in volleyball and basketball.

Yet there I stood, with a mic in my hand at a graduation dinner dance, the least likely of all the years.

So off the top of my head, unscripted, I began reflecting about these former 8th graders.

I remembered back in 4th grade, when I came to St. Mary's as the Athletic Director (not sports commissioner) and went into the 4th grade room. It was pretty dead.

I'd try my best to tell jokes, get them involved, do whatever I could to peak their interest, but I would get a lot of blank stares.

I would at times dread going into their classroom because it felt like a wasted effort.

But on the other hand, I started to look at it as a challenge.

Not many of these kids were motivated to play sports and I knew it was going to take a lot more persuading for them to get out there and play.

And slowly but surely, they started trickling in and began to play.

I will remember a Friday night in 2009 at CYO Serramonte when the boys won their very first basketball game. Jason, Raymond and Aaron all playing for the first time. The Shem, Anthony, Hartman and Garrick in their first year playing against boys in the same grade.

It was a phenomenal night, one that I will never forget.



By no means was this grade gifted with the athleticism and pure raw talent like some of the other grades, but everything in life is relative, and they made improvements years after year, and most importantly, these boys, for the most part, continued to play.

I will remember Hartman, the only boy in the class to play baseball and soccer. I will remember how every coach who has ever coached Hartman, always telling me how hard he tries and how much they liked coaching him.

I will remember Sabrina and Lili, Lady Byng winner 2012, who both never played any sports until the 8th grade. Both of them contributed to their teams in a big way and they both played in a championship in the first and final year at St. Mary's.

I will remember Shem, obviously for his corner, but also for how he has grown a lot in this past year. I think having the corner has built his confidence little by little to try new things in life. We will continue with more corner during the summer for those wondering.

And last but not least, I will remember Garrick, aka Brett - Lady Byng winner 2012

I might have told this story before, but I'll tell it again if you have never heard it.

A few summers ago on the reality show Big Brother, one person based his vote for the winner on the simple fact that the finalist always said hello to him.

And folks, that was Garrick.

He wasn't sucking up, didn't need anything from me. But whenever he saw me at school, games, other events, he'd just simply say hi. He just came to say hello. And just for that, I'll always remember him.

Plus he had great school spirit, definitely always helpful, was great on camera as he participated in what I think was one of the funniest Epic Video bits of all time when he lost his name and became Brett.

Take a look if you have never seen this or want to see it again, just hilarious.



Time for the Garrick bit, 4:21

As this class graduates, I came to a realization that this class was different, and in a good way. Would it have been better if everybody played everything? Sure. But this class wasn't that. They were their own identity.

If every class would be gung ho about everything, there would be no challenges and perhaps not even great moments.

And because it took so long to get some of the students in this class to play, their shining moments which were hard to come by, shine greater, and in some ways last longer.

They got what they wanted out of playing sports and were happy and satisfied with their results. And at the end of the day, that's all you can ask for.

I truly believe for the people who played sports in this class, it definitely will help them branch out and make them more sociable people in high school and their experience of being with a team will do nothing but benefit them in the future.

So Class of 2012, good luck to all of you. And believe it or not, you will be missed.