For Lewis Cass ISD North Pointe Center Instructor Molly High, graduation is never a particularly happy occasion.

It is not because she does not like seeing the graduates dressed up in their caps and gowns, ready to step their next steps into the future.

It is not because she does not like having to deliver a speech during the ceremony.

It is not even because she dislikes saying goodbye. Like a family, she and her former students at the special education center never truly say farewell, as they always keep in touch through visits, phone calls or messages on Facebook.

The reason, High said, as she held back tears, was because she did not like thinking about the fact that she would never see the smiling faces of the graduates in her classroom again, glancing warmly in the direction of the three students sitting and listening attentively to her right Friday afternoon.

“It makes me sad to think about these things,” High said. “But not all change is bad. If nothing ever changes, then we wouldn’t have butterflies.”

There was no better analogy for the students who graduated from the Dowagiac school Friday, who, after years of overcoming obstacles, were finally ready to spread their wings and fly.

Graduating from North Pointe Center that afternoon were Kenneth Chaney Jr., Madeline Pettit and Haidon Williams. Lewis Cass ISD Superintendent Brent Holcomb and other staff members honored the trio for their accomplishments during a brief ceremony at the school, with the students’ family, friends and classmates cheering them on.

During her remarks, High shared with the audience her memories of Chaney and Pettit throughout their time in her classroom.

When Chaney first began attending North Pointe, he rarely spoke, High said. However, that all changed after the teacher tried to give him an iPod that he could use to help him
communicate, she said.

“He looked at us and said, “No, I talk,’” High said. “That was all it took. He showed us and he changed.”

High said she would miss watching Chaney put up the flag every morning at school, rushing to get it up before the front door locked on him.

Like her classmate, Pettit initially struggled to find her footing at North Pointe as well. Coming to the program after aging out of her school in Indiana, she was initially a bit shy and lacked self confidence, High said.

Pettit has since come out of her shell, and is now scheduling and attending job interviews on her own, High said.

“Although she has difficulty using the right side of her body, she has never asked me for help, “High said. “I see her sometimes struggle to put on her rubber gloves when we’re going to cook, or to carry something heavy from the kitchen. But she always got it. Her determination is so strong.”

Also speaking during the ceremony was Williams’ teacher at North Pointe, Eileen Weingarten.

Williams had to overcome tragic circumstances on his path to graduation, as he lost both his parents, and now lives with his siblings, Weingarten said.

However, Williams did not let tragedy overcome him, as he was always in high spirits and was always volunteering to help Weingarten and his classmates, the teacher said.

“Haidon can get hired just about anywhere and be successful at his job,” Weingarten said.

Harkening back to her butterfly metaphor, High closed her speech to the students by telling them their lives as caterpillars had ended, and that she and the rest of the audience were excited to see them take flight.

High also shared with them one last assignment before they left the halls of North Pointe: to go out into the world and make some mistakes.

“If you’re making mistakes, it means you’re trying new things,” High said. “It means you are learning, you’re living, you’re pushing yourself, and you’re changing yourself and the world.”