Joyce Valenza’s Neverending Search

Graduation week is over and what a week it was!

For me the highlight was a spontaneous yearbook day in the library. A variety of circumstances caused the books to be late. (They were supposed to be distributed at the senior barbecue. ) My assistant was in charge of distribution this year and for the first time we distributed yearbooks in the library.

Why didn’t we think of that before?

The entire school (well, more than half of it) visited the library to pick up their books. We thought they’d grab a book and run. But most of them stayed. They spread out at tables and shelves browsing and signing and laughing. Teachers stopped by and were grabbed into signing.

It was the most beautiful chaos, a spontaneous party. The library, in so many ways a home for these seniors. It was a perfect place to say goodbye to friends and faculty. And no barbecue sauce to stain the pages.

Earlier in the week, Bill visited. Now a Marine and a college grad, Bill made a point of sharing that he attributed much of his academic success to the research and writing skills he developed at Springfield. He admitted that he didn’t also let me know he was listening back then, but he was listening, very hard.

I got a chance to look at our copy of the yearbook and was pleased to discover that the library got very good coverage. In fact I had my own whole page. Of all the pics they took all year, the editors selected an oddly flattering shot of me. Should I be truly flattered or slightly embarrassed?