It is with great joy, pride and a bit of tearfulness that I announce the student of the 2015-2016 school year…..Morgan Agolli. I had the privilege of attending Morgan’s high school graduation at Metro Academic Studies this past Sunday, as well as an incredible celebration with her family and friends that evening. Morgan is special to me for many reasons including the fact that I partnered with her longer than any other student. I am fortunate to be able to work with many of my students for extended periods of time, but I began my incredible journey as Morgan’s academic coach and private teacher over six years ago when she was in 7th grade. I was doubly blessed to essentially become part of her family and to partner with her mother in Morgan’s academic endeavors. As you can imagine, Morgan and I have learned a great deal about each other and from each other working that closely together for that long. I can easily say that she is one of my favorite people to spend time with. While she will be the first to admit that she is not a huge fan of school (she had a countdown app from day one of her senior year), she has always been open, teachable and persistent in our work together. She never gave up no matter how challenging the task at hand might have been. We conquered word roots, essay writing, metric prefixes, poetry, literary elements, just to name a few. She has also accomplished a great deal in her extracurricular activities including karate, piano, and art. She has learned a great deal from her traveling adventures including a trip to Paris over Spring Break. She also has excelled in her part time job for the past two years at Chick- Fil- a. This past year was a real highlight for us as we spent an entire semester on Career Exploration during which Morgan explored her interest in several careers, mainly the travel industry and specifically flight attendant. She completed a very informative research paper and Power Point Presentation about this profession. She interviewed a flight attendant and came up with over sixty questions to ask her. She conducted a mock interview with a local business owner and knocked it out of the park. Morgan, her mom, and I had the privilege of taking part in an extensive tour at Delta which gave us a real inside look and appreciation for the travel industry and the day to day challenges of being an air stewardess. We even got to experience a mock airplane evacuation which involved jumping out of a smoking plane and zipping down a slide together. Morgan has many gifts and strengths including being very responsible and having a positive attitude/bright smile (she can often be heard saying “LOL.”) However, I think the quality I appreciate most about her is her compassion and tender heart towards the feelings and needs of others. Even on days when I know she was not excited about the workload I was giving her or the subject we were learning, she would still check in to see how I was doing. She also shows a concern for her peers and those around her who might need a word of encouragement. Morgan will be spending the next year traveling and working towards her goals, and while her path is not exactly clear yet, I know without one doubt that she will shine bright like a diamond wherever she goes and whatever she does. Congratulations, Morgan. Thanks for one incredible ride. Love, Meg