Amanda merritt, graduation presentation 2008

Amanda Merritt, Deep Roots Academy Homeschool Graduation Presentation 2008 Barney - Barney Theme Song Sailor Moon - Season One Theme Song NSync - Bye, Bye, Bye Mandy Moore - Only Hope Vitamin C - Friends Forever "Graduation Song" Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten Amanda's Speech: Friends and Family: Welcome to our graduation ceremony. No matter whom you came for we would all like to thank you for supporting us and joining us for this memorable occasion in our lives. I have known both Haddie and Karah for a long time. So, I decided that I would tell you guys a few stories from my childhood so you can see a little into the three of us. I have known Karah since I was born as, our moms were friends when they were pregnant. We have been best friends ever since. Starting out living a few blocks apart to now living a few houses apart. Haddie I have known since my grandparents adopted her into our family in 1996. I remember waiting at my grandparents house for them to come into the house with her. It has always been very strange having an aunt that is only a month older than you but, we have always been more of friends than anything else. Well, when we were kids Karah and I were always at each others houses. We were constantly playing different games and making up some of our own. Sailor Moon was one of our favorite cartoons and we watched every day. We even dressed up as our favorite characters one Halloween which was very exciting for us. Our moms made the costumes and took us trick or treating together. As we got older the shows changed, our personalities changed and we got different friends. It was always strange talking about our "new" friends and telling each other about our days at school. We were both excited when our moms decided to home school us together in Kindergarten. I lost my first tooth with Karah by my side and we got to do all our school work together. When we moved into 1st grade our parents decided to enroll us in the same school, Ovilla Christian School. Right before my second grade year Haddie came into the picture. She was always a sweet child and was my new aunt from China. I was very excited to have her in the family as were all of us. When my grandpa became the principal of Christway Academy he asked my mom to teach music and, while I moved on to Christway Academy in the 2nd grade Karah stayed at Ovilla while we still remained friends and made some new friends. Even though we had different teachers, we were still always at each others houses. Me and Haddie saw a lot of each other, we were a grade apart and our teachers loved mixing the two classes together. This meant, we spent a lot of time together. Once I got into 3rd grade my mom decided to home school me again and has up until now. Karah and I always remained friends and Haddie hung out with us sometimes. We all attended the same church, Countryside Baptist Church with my grandpa as the pastor. In the 4th grade my parents decided they wanted to move to Ennis. This meant I was going to make new friends. Although, I would still keep in contact with the old ones we wouldn't get to see each other as often. Shortly after moving to Ennis my parents decided they wanted to change churches to something closer and we chose Baylor Baptist Church. I quickly made friends and some of you are here today. Eventually, The Grandon's decided they wanted to move to Ennis, Actually, they lived with us for a little while while they were waiting on their house. We spent a lot of time together in those days even though Karah had to get up very early to go to school. Since then we have lived only a few houses apart and we have loved being within walking distance of each other. Eventually Aunt Tammie decided she wanted to home school Karah and we have been even closer still. We have done many things together from being in the same home school group to having out moms teach COD a co-op program. All of our teachers were very good. We learned everything from Drama to Voice to Finances. And, who could forget those home-ec classes, I think Grammie laughed more than anyone I have ever seen. I never saw what she was really like till she was supposed to be teaching. I loved every minute of it. Classes were always very entertaining and even though none of us wanted to learn "proper table etiquette" We all stuck through it together. Once I got into the youth in 7th grade my youth pastors wife taught a group of students song in sign and she is a large reason I have chosen Deaf Education as my major. I loved the look of the signs with the music and even when she changed churches I have continued learning more and more signs and performing all over Texas. My biggest accomplishment was when Matt asked me if I would join 4-H in the 9th grade and perform a song with him in sign. We didn't do very well that year but, came back the next year to take 1st at the state level. That is one of my biggest accomplishments to date...