FIN!

It's over. I made it through Institute!

It was a fun day for the students at YES, and every teacher had to plan out something special to do with the kids. I was going to go outside and play soccer with the kids. However, I wanted to make it a surprise. We'd start the day as we normally did inside the classroom, and I'd congratulate them on reaching their academic goals. I'd present the final product that we had been working on throughout the course: a published copy of all the students' personal narratives. Then I'd grab the soccer ball and we'd head outside.

That morning, before school started, I was frantically searching for a ball. I went into the cafeteria and found one of my students. I called him over. "Robert, you can't tell ANYONE this." His face got serious and he nodded intently. "Where can I find a soccer ball?" I asked him. He lit up a little. "In the gym," he replied. "Okay, thanks. Remember that this is a huge secret."

Five minutes before class started, I was alone in my room setting up. For the final three days, because we had just completed our personal narratives that would prepare them for college applications, I had converted the room into Talevich University. I was putting up the proper decorations and changing into my tennis shoes when Jaime walked through the door.

"Jaime, class hasn't started yet. I need you to wait outside," I told him. "It's okay, Mister," he replied. "I know what's going on. Robert told me. Can we just go out and play right now?"

I grinned. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"But what about your shoes, Mister?"

"I think Robert was playing a big joke on you. I'm sorry, but we aren't playing soccer today."

The class came in, and we celebrated the improvement and growth they had made during the past four weeks. I walked over and pointed to a poster I had made at the beginning of the course that illustrated our Big Goal. It read, We will create INCREDIBLE personal narratives that will be PUBLISHED. I pulled out the book of their narratives and we all cheered. I showed them that there was an ABOUT THE AUTHORS section and asked them if they wanted me to read it for them. They got excited and I read a paragraph about all their accomplishments that they had made during the four weeks. Then I read a section about myself that I had added. "Mr. T will soon move to Hawaii to teach." I had to pause and take a deep breath before continuing because there was a lump in my throat and my eyes were welling up. "He would like to learn to surf, but he would also like to return to Houston in 2014 to watch all of his 7th grade class graduate and HEAD OFF TO COLLEGE." The class cheered and I took another deep breath. I was really going to miss them.

We went outside and played soccer. My students were really good at it. It was a blast and by the time we finished and headed to lunch, I was drenched in sweat. Even though our class was done, I spent most of the rest of the day with them, passing out candy during lunch, viewing their culture projects during their history class, and then going to the assembly with them.

The end of the year assembly was awesome. YES Prep and TFA executed it perfectly. They showed the school's yearbook DVD along with some added photos from summer session. During the first week of teaching, we had completed an assignment where we wrote about our most inspirational student. Little did we know that the TFA/YES staff had used that information to take pictures with each student holding a sign with a thank you and our name written on it. During the slideshow, these photos flashed by quickly. The sign with my name on it flashed up on the screen, with Komanya holding a sign that read Thank You Mr. Talevich. Komanya had been one of those students who could brighten up any classroom. He worked hard every day and improved more than anyone else. Seeing him up on that screen with my name validated every single thing that I had sacraficed and went through during those five weeks.

That evening I went out with my collaborative (the four people that I shared a classroom and lesson planned with) and our Corps Member Adviser to celebrate the completion of institute. They had been the group of people I had gotten closest to during institute since we spent literally 14 hours a day together. Unfortunately, they are all in the St. Louis region, so this was sort of my going away party. We had a great night and then said our goodbyes. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty tough. I'm going to miss them a lot and I wish I had them by my side for this next challenge.

So now it's over. Finito. I'm very very relieved, but I'm also quickly realizing the things that I will actually really miss about institute. But it's moving way too fast to take too much time to reflect. As soon as I land in Hawaii tomorrow, TFA Orientation starts, and then I check into my school. No time to slow down.