West's 8th grade graduation West’s last day at middle school was yesterday and her graduation ceremony took place yesterday evening.

When the students went up to get their diplomas they mostly just read each student’s name. However when West went up her teacher said what a great student she was and that she’s been awarded an OPTA (Oak Park Teacher’s Association) scholarship! That was a neat surprise. Out of the 255 graduating students only 4 were awarded OPTA scholarships. So West got a $100 scholarship check to do as she wishes with as well as her diploma.

A few days ago she also received a number of certificates at school:

  • Certificate of Achievement for 4.0 GPA (out of 4.0)
  • President’s Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence
  • Best Musician 2008-2009 (as voted by her classmates)
  • 3rd Trimester Science Award
  • 3rd place Harper Lee Writer’s recognition award for her final chapter of To Kill A Mockingbird

In a couple of weeks West begins Summer School at the high school she’ll be attending (Summer School is optional – she chose to enroll). She’ll be there a couple of hours a day taking an Arts Foundation course. Hopefully it will be fun as well as being a prerequisite for most art courses at the high school.

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