It is 8th grade graduation at Higgins Middle School in Peabody, MA. In the midst of announcements recognizing junior honor society members, scholarship recipients, superlative winners and top students in records of attendance and community service, please let me introduce you to an academically average and otherwise ordinary student, my daughter, Mandy. Her name will not be announced for any awards today. She sits among a large sea of faces in the letter "M" section of the incoming freshman high school class of 2019.
To many, the most outstanding thing about Mandy is that she is "the kid with the cane" the only student out of 450 in the 8th grade graduating class who uses a long white cane for safe independent travel.
Mandy is not on the president's list.
She is not a member of the student council.
She does not volunteer as a peer mentor or tutor.
She is not in the band or on a sports team.
She does not have perfect attendance because with four eye disease specialists, appointments inevitably get scheduled during school hours.
Her artwork does not hang from the school corridor walls, though her boundless imagination colors everything she touches.
She doesn't formally cheer at athletic events, but she is the most lively
cheerleader of American history that her 8th grade social studies teacher has ever seen.
Mandy is not on record as one who "volunteered the most hours at the local food pantry" Her community service is encouraging a newly relocated shy classmate and consoling a much younger bus mate temporarily trapped in a damaged seatbelt.
Her exemplary performance comes not in straight A's, but in achieving just one semester of honor roll while juggling lessons in Braille, assistive technology and orientation & mobility.
Her superb memory does not produce perfect test scores, but it does inspire choosing a year end gift for a favorite teacher based on an offhand remark made several months earlier, at the start of the school year.
She is a member of the honor society for perseverance.
She earns a 4.0 in enthusiasm.
Her superlative is for most inquisitive.
Her biggest achievement is adaptability.
She is a recipient of scholarships for courage and kindness.
Mandy's strength comes out of her weakness and her assets are a direct result of her limitations. My daughter is daily learning to make advantage out of disadvantage.
It is a beautiful adventure to witness the miracle in mediocrity.
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