Bookends…they serve as pillars of support, protecting each book of precious pages.

Staring at my own bookends on a shelf, I realize they provide a metaphor for my Trinity journey.

I cut my teeth in education with a Trinity three-old class in 2004. How blessed I am to return to this school in 2012 and find myself teaching those same students, now in the Sixth Grade.  I feel like those bookends on my shelf!

Many observations enter my mind working with these kids the second time around.  Those special Trinity cobalt blue shoulder bags were replaced with cobalt blue shirts and fleece jackets. The sprint down the ELD ramp is now a drag of a rolling backpack. At 8:10am, instead of “Criss-cross applesauce,” I now say “Please close your Macbooks.”

More than superficial changes, it is the volumes of stories that comprise their time between then and now that make me so proud to be their bookends.  By Sixth Grade, they have experiences that span the countries they represented in their Pre-K Olympics to their role in Fifth Grade’s Nutcracker performance.  One chapter includes their 100th Day of School in Kindergarten, while another features the Wagon Train in Fourth Grade.

As an assistant, I have supported both students and teachers alike in creating their stories.  Trinity faculty provides enriching educational experiences that fill the pages. It is an honor to serve among them as a bookend for the Trinity class of 2013.

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Rebecca Stewart is an assistant in Sixth Grade at Trinity School.