Yesterday was a sad day, since it was my last classes ever as a high school teacher. I really enjoyed my classes this year, which is not unusual, as well as spending time in the Math Lab with so many people, most of them wonderful students:

• early mornings with Eileen and a rotating group, including Pooja, Julia, Leonard, Andy, Gloria, Vikas, and Chang;
• my 1st period homeroom: Jess H, Neil, Maryam, Ben, Amy, Michelle, Monika, and Vanessa;
• 5th period lunch with Briane, Carol, En-tseh, Dave, Jean, and Jess S (who was a semi-regular visitor who always brightened up the room whenever she was there);
• 7th period with Meera and Sana, the latter who was there for 2 consecutive years and was delightful to spend time with;
• the after-school crowd, which varied from day to day, but usually included Wesley, Christina, and Zainab.

I also enjoyed my extracurricular activities, especially the Indian Culture Club and Asian-American Club, and working with some really dedicated officers, such as Neelam, Risha, Simon and Emily.

I have been very lucky since the mid-1990s to stay friendly with many former students through email, IM and Facebook, and I hope that will continue in the future. Actually, I am certain it will continue with at least 2 of my current students, and that eases the sadness of bidding farewell to all of them. The thought entered my head that a group of us should start a “lunch club,” which meets on a regular basis as an excuse to get together and chat. I wonder if the group from last Friday afternoon would be interested in doing that, haha?