A Florida high school principal has demonstrated deep care for his graduating seniors after a difficult year by writing 459 personalized notes, one for each and every student.
Principal Jeff Reaves of Matanzas High School in Flagler County started writing back in March, delving into yearbooks, transcripts, and memories to compile the best of his students’ achievements. As the task turned into a labor of love, he was even penning notes on the morning of graduation day.
Reaves started working at the school when his Class of 2021 seniors were freshman students.
Reaves had his handwritten notes placed on each graduate’s chair at the Ocean Center, Daytona Beach, ceremony. After receiving their diplomas, all students opened their cards at the same time.
Courtney Wood, a high school senior, said that it looked like a “fun little seating chart” at first. Yet upon reading her card, she was struck by the poignancy of her principal’s gesture.
“Every single one had something special to that student in it, like mine specially mentions theater,” she explained. “He took the time to get to know the kids, and it really meant a lot.”
Senior prom queen, Lovie Haley, acknowledged the principal in a graduation speech made on behalf of the National Honor Society.
Reaves’s cards were the gift that kept on giving. Not only was the act of writing them rewarding for the principal himself, but the notes and their messages sparked an animated conversation between seniors, their families, and faculty after the ceremony.
Reaves, who regularly writes but hasn’t done anything of this magnitude, said that while it’s easy to get caught up in the numbers, “it’s the names that really matter.”
Reaves doesn’t yet know whether he will write personalized notes for his graduating seniors of 2022, but this year it felt like the right thing to do. He hopes he’s “one of many” educators to have found a unique way to validate his senior class as they step out on their own.
