by Stavii Dimas

Oh, The Places You’ll Go!

by Stavi Dimas, Elementary School Faculty

Congratulations! Today is your day. You’re off to Great Places! You’re off and away! You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. Dr. Seuss 1990

This year, on the morning of Tuesday, June 14, 2022, the graduating class of 2029 ‘Stepped-Up’ into Middle School. Although an event enjoyed annually, every June, it provides a unique opportunity for a new group of students to leave their mark on the legacy of the ACS Athens Fifth Grade. Signaling the completion of elementary school, ‘Step-Up Day,’ previously known as Fifth Grade Graduation, is a significant long-standing academic milestone for our students. Yet five years ago, when I first joined the fifth-grade team, I had not fully understood the significance of this event until I finally experienced it firsthand.

Step-Up Day is a celebration of the transformation we observe in our students throughout the year as they morph into self-reliant, responsible, and accountable fifth graders prepared to navigate the challenges of middle school. On the first day of school, the students arrive in the fifth-grade wing in awe of the fact that they have such a beautiful space, nestled among the trees, which has been built solely for their learning. Simultaneously they are shocked that Middle School is now only 20 paces away, a constant reminder of what is coming just a few months down the road. As the year progresses, they ease into their new role as senior students in the ACS Athens Elementary School and work diligently to meet the high expectations of a demanding curriculum. And in the end, they finish the school year full of hope, anticipation, self-confidence, and a bit of melancholy that they are leaving their elementary school years behind them.

Therefore, ‘Step-Up Day’ can be thought of as a celebration of our fifth-grade students’ accomplishments and personal growth. This year, speeches from ACS Athens President, Dr. Pelonis, and Elementary School Principal, Ms. Moros touched the hearts of the students and their families as they led us through a reflection on the year, and shared with us the pride they felt for the fifth grade class and all that they have achieved.

We were also honored to have the current US Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic come to the podium to offer bits of wisdom to our wide-eyed fifth graders. Then the students captivated their audience with a vocal performance showcasing their impressive xylophone skills by paying tribute to the late musical magnate James Brown through a rendition of his hit song, I Feel Good.

Once the students received their certificates honoring their giant ‘step’ into middle school, a short reception was enjoyed by the fifth graders and their families. However, the fun was not quite over. The rest of the students’ memorable day had been carefully planned by the Middle School office to welcome students to the ACS Athens Middle School. They spent the day touring classrooms, meeting teachers and students, and of course, the highlight, eating in the ‘big’ cafeteria with their assigned middle school buddies. Ultimately, we all agreed it was definitely a day to remember.

In closing, I return to the Dr. Seuss poem quoted above, Oh, the Places You’ll Go! I was reminded of this poem as I sat down to write this article, not only because the words are so well suited to describe the shift from fifth grade to middle school, but also because this was the poem I read at ‘Graduation’ the first year I taught in fifth grade. At the time, my colleagues had established a tradition of reading this poem as part of their gift to honor the students’ hard work and celebrate the next steps in their academic journey. I consider myself privileged to have lived the experience of ‘Graduation’ with these talented, caring women who made this event always about the students and never about themselves. Like the fifth graders, as we move forward, we always carry with us the life lessons and the people who have taught us along the way. Therefore it can be said that it is the collective pulse of years of dedicated educators that have made ‘Step-Up Day’ into the special student-centered event that it is today.