The Answer - A blog about Education, Preparation, and Commitment.

Senior Signing Day Should Be A National Holiday

May 02, 2011 by Mark DiBella

I have decided to make it official. Senior Signing Day is now a national holiday. I haven’t actually gotten this approved by anyone but I have emailed the President, so I’ll let you know when I find out more. Given that I look forward to SSD more than my own birthday, I’ve decided it needs to take its place as a fully recognized holiday. In fact, as I was heading to SSD on Friday, I started making a list of my favorite days every year. It was crazy to realize that next to Christmas and Thanksgiving, SSD is arguably my favorite day of the year. Of course, the last day of school is a close 4th.

For those of you that have never attended a Senior Signing Day, you should put next year's event on your calendar.  Senior Signing Day started as a way to honor our graduating seniors for the hard work and dedication that they exhibited over the seven years they attended YES Prep.  Its the culmination of the hours of homework, the Wall Streets, the community service, the tests and the spring trips.  Our graduating Seniors are honored by walking up on stage and announcing the college they will attend in the fall to a roar of appaulse and cheers from every staff member and student, many parents, community leaders and politicians.  Its an amazing event that celebrates academic success. 

This year did not disappoint. It was so amazing to be sitting on the stage and hear the cheers and applause for every one of our seniors! Every time one of our seniors made their announcement the sea of orange erupted, and it made me incredibly proud to be a YES Prep North Central Trailblazer. Thank you so much to everyone for your spirit and energy during the event! It was also incredible to look into the sea of orange and realize that we have created a pipeline of excellence that will ensure that for years and years and years to come seniors from NC will be able to experience the excitement and joy of SSD. In my eight years at NC, I can honestly say that Friday was one of the proudest I have ever been to be a part of the NC family.

Finally, I want to make sure that I publicly thank our incredible college counseling team. Thank you, Jayn, Fabi, Erika, Chad, and most recently Blanca for your tireless dedication to our seniors. We all know that there is no way that yesterday could happen without your hard work. You should be very, very proud of what you and the seniors have accomplished together.  Of course, yesterday’s event was an incredible team effort, a culmination of 7 years of often grueling work, so thank you ALL again for all of your support for our seniors.

In just a little over a month I look forward to celebrating again with you at the second YES Prep North Central graduation!

Mark DiBella is currently the School Director at YES Prep North Central and will transition to lead the YES Prep East End campus in the upcoming school year.  Mark is a Teach For America alum and a MBA graduate from the Jones Business School at Rice University.

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