The dust has settled; the children have finished another school year; the sixth-graders have graduated and are moving on to middle school. As we performed all of the tasks necessary to make graduation day and the last day of school meaningful celebrations that everyone will remember with fondness, we also are thinking of next year and all that it promises.

This year I had the pleasure of attending a few graduation ceremonies at WMS and other local schools. I’ve noticed a common thread among most of these speeches. It doesn’t matter if we are sending off sixth-graders, which is the case at WMS, high school or college seniors, graduate students or anyone else completing their education at some level, the messages are similar. Go forth, do your best, have some fun while you’re at it and be confident that you can accomplish that next hurdle, no matter what it is.

As I sat through a particularly engaging high school graduation I was interested in the speaker, a McArthur Grant recipient. Her message to the graduating seniors was one of encouraging passion, hard work and embracing the joy that comes from following one’s dreams. As she is a recent grant recipient, she also identified with the students before her, saying that she is at a new crossroads and she is uncertain about what is next and where it will lead. She wasn’t even sure as to how she received this honor. After all, she was simply doing what she loves and finds so interesting.

We are all in a state of graduating for we are not certain of what lies ahead. New experiences present themselves and we need to embrace them. It is that mindset that will lead us forward and allow us to grow. Though summer is a time of rest it is also a time to pursue those things that matter the most. For it is in the space between the work we do each day that creativity is born. May your summer be filled with time to relax, explore and wonder.