On Thursday, June 4th, the Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School graduated over 400 seniors. Our Aicha was one of them, proudly wearing the National Honor Society badge. We came up from Brooklyn, Djelloul's sister Khaldia flew in from Paris, and Fatima from Algeria. There are no big graduation ceremonies in either Algeria or Paris. It was all new.
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| Emma Nour -- now a junior at CRLS, was an usher, though her duties were over by the time the family arrived, so she watched the ceremonies nestled in between her aunts. |
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| Proud daddy. |
We watched the speakers through the scaffolding, the mayor's speech, the principal's, the class officers, the valedictorian, then the time came, with cheers, for the presentation of diplomas.
Aicha's turn came, with appreciative nods from those who knew her well.
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| "Under authority vested in me as mayor of Cambridge I now pronounce you graduates of the class of 2015." |
Cheers, photos, hats flying, trying to find each other everyone in the tennis court, after much searching, and more yays. And time for the photos.
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| Sisters. |
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| Family. |
Belabbes women: Khaldia, Aicha, and Fatima.
The Belabbes kids, the older sisters with their little brother.
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| Checking texts. |
Emma Nour wants to see the diploma up close and personal.
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| It's actually a beautiful document. |
Principal Damon Smith comes by to bid a fond farewell to a favorite student, and hopes she'll come back often to visit.
It's hard to hold the tears.
just then Fatima spots a contrail. It makes her happy to see it.
I turn around and she makes me laugh.
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| One of Aicha's teachers stops to give Aicha her love -- |
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| There's Diane snapping pictures again. |
Passing the beautiful library next to the High School.
Aicha and her lovely gift from Fatima.
