Benefits of staying

So I'm staying a fourth year at my same job at Taisha Jr High.

Which means that kids that were 6th graders at elementary school when I first arrived in 2004 will graduate from my Jr High in March of 2008.

So I've seen girls like this:




grow up into young ladies like this:




Sayoko, Kanako, Rina and Tomoka above are all kids I first taught as 6th graders in shogakko.

What's even more mind-blowing in a way is that the first 9th graders I taught, who graduated from my Jr High in March of 2005, will graduate from High School in March of 2008 - I plan on going to Taisha High School's graduation and seeing some of them get their diplomas.

It's one of the benefits of sticking around for so long.

-Jason