All the Senior End-of-Year Things for Ashley

 Ashley was pretty busy during the last couple of weeks of the school year. She didn't actually have any classes for the last week, but she had some different senior activities, plus she was dog sitting for a family with 2 dogs and a puppy that required her to be there at the house most of the day and night, and she worked a couple of shifts at the Convention Center. The first of her senior activities was Seminary Graduation.

Ashley loved Seminary. She had good teachers every year she was in seminary and she loved the break it gave her from the school day. She has such a strong testimony, and I know that a part of that comes from the discussions and things she learned in seminary.

Her senior class went on a trip to St. George during the first part of graduation week. She got offered the puppy sitting job and decided to take that instead of going on the trip. She wasn't really excited about going to St. George in the heat of May and sleeping in the same room with noisy girls and all of the driving to get there and home for a 3-day trip. She wasn't really sad about her decision not to go, except for the few days after when so many people were talking about the trip.

She went to school on the last day for an awards ceremony, to get her yearbook and have people sign it, and to see her friends, some of them possibly for the last time. I went into the awards ceremony, which mostly highlighted academic achievements and sports achievements for the high school students. there was a quick slide about the students graduating that year that had been at the school since kindergarten and first grade. The principal botched it a little bit and I thought for a second that they were not even going to recognize Ashley. She said something like "We have 5 students who have been at AHS since kindergarten." (Ashley's name was not on the list showing. But then there was a second slide that had 4 more names, including Ashley).

After school that day, she had a graduation rehearsal and then a senior recognition dinner that night. Danny and I were invited to attend the dinner with her, where she received a tribute from one of her teachers. Ashley has had quite a few teachers at American Heritage that have made a huge impact on her life. The teacher that volunteered to write and present her tribute was not one that I would have expected. She is a math teacher, after all, and Ashley hates math. Mrs. Thompson gave a beautiful tribute and we were happy to be able to be there to support Ashley.

Ashley with her best friend, Kaci (I'm glad that we got this picture because we were unable to find Kaci after the graduation the next day to get a picture of the 2 of them together).

Ashley with her 8th grade teacher, Mr. Brewer (his first year teaching at AHS), and all of the students from that class who were still at the school for senior year.

Graduation was on May 22nd at 10am. Ashley had to be there at 9am, so we all went that early to claim our seats. The program was long, but good. The reading of the names went pretty quickly with a class of 70 or so. Finding Ashley and then her friends after the ceremony was very tricky. But we were able to locate everyone she wanted to see, except for Kaci. Here are some of the pictures from afterwards. I made Ashley a money lei to wear after the ceremony (they wouldn't let her wear it during).

Waiting to walk across the stage

Walking across the stage

Participating in the final choir number

Ashley and Emily Preston

Ashley with Josh and Sandra

Ashley with Kailohi

Ashley has loved going to school across the street from the temple, so we couldn't miss the opportunity to get a shot of her on school grounds in front of the temple. We were grateful for video editing to take all of the people out of the shot that were standing around.

Ashley with Gawbie and Grandpa

Our family shot (minus Alyssa)

We are so proud of Ashley for all of her accomplishments. She has loved going to American Heritage and will really miss the teachers and the friends she has made there. She is still trying to figure out what comes next for her life. She knows that she wants to go into dog training, which will require her to do some online schooling to get certified. Eventually, she plans to own her own training business. She is also thinking about a mission but doesn't feel ready to commit to it yet. Maybe she will in the future or maybe she won't. She is beautiful inside and out and is going to do incredible things in the future.