"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader." ~ Margaret Fuller

I am deeming May the month of graduates. I know last year we celebrated Mothers Day hard, and we will still celebrate this year. But for now, May belongs to grads. The grads who aren't getting to celebrate any of the ways they thought they would be able to. Trips, prom, banquets, ceremonies, all of it gone. So these next several blogs belong to them. Today, I want to introduce you to Isabella.

Isabella was a student of mine. I had her for three years and it was during the last year, when she was in my homeroom, that I really got to know her. She would bring me boxes of books that she had read and wanted to donate to my classroom library. She would often organize said library to make it easier for future reads to determine a book by genre. She had books with her everywhere and my twenty something self was envious of her. I long for days when I can always have a book with me and read as fast as she does. She reads for knowledge and to learn. She then takes what she has learned and applies it to real-life. Isabella then takes those life-lessons and encourages others to persevere through their challenges. She has become an advocate for so many young people.

Isabella was one of the first people I saw after I got engaged. I was at Michaels buying supplies to put together my "Will you be my bridesmaid?" boxes and she was there. We chit chatted for awhile and then she saw my finger and shrieked. "WHAT?! You won't be Miss Frederickson anymore?!"

We have kept up a bit over the last few years. She's called me for help with her debate tournaments, to go over the occasional paper or two, and she has reached out when she just needed to talk. Isabella is so well-read for a teenager, and she has kept a curiosity for life that most lose when they enter adolescence. I have no doubt in my mind that Isabella will be an incredibly successful adult. I don't know if she will be a writer, a lawyer, a teacher, or a doctor. Regardless, she of whatever route she chooses, she will be amazing. As you look through the gallery, I hope that you see the fire and the passion that I see when I look at her.

Happy Monday friends!