When I went to high school at Fairhaven High in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, we had a tradition called Junior Day which took place on the Friday before graduation. It’s the day awards and honors were given out to students. The Concert Choir had a set of three songs that rotated each year for Junior Day. The idea was that if you were in the choir for all four years you’d learn one as a freshman which becomes your send off by the time you sang it again as a graduating senior. My class’s song was The Irish Blessing done in this particular arrangement. High school was a traumatic time for me, dealing with medical gaslighting
around my migraine diagnosis and treatment, putting myself into the closet, friendships falling out; but despite all the drama, my music and art classrooms were where I was free to explore every idea I ever had. When I listen or just think of this piece I’m taken back to the support and love I received by my art and music teachers. These educators, the ones before them and the ones after them are truly the foundation for the person who stands in front of you today.