What Ms. Crawford said at the CAS Memorial

My first memory of Kyle is from the CAS 9^th Grade Welcome Picnic. As I’m chatting with parents and incoming freshies, he and a gaggle of soon-to-be high-schoolers from King are running around on the green. In this memory Kyle is smiling, and it’s a smile of someone who is nervously anticipating what will become of his high school career. What is important to me? Who will be his friends? Who will I be?

Several days later he enters C334 4^th period with a big warm already-familiar smile, and he works with a friend who will leave us at the end of the week. Once she is gone, he returns less smiley…he is concerned about her, and it’s my first sign of how much he cares about other people.

There are many memories from 9^th grade—during class, before class, after class, and of course during his Spanish when he’d retreat to my room for a break.

We talk about books and baseball.

I read work he’s labored over, and work he hadn’t, and maybe even that essay on Danny the Champion of the World.

His father and Niko come to our monologues.

Whether in the hall, in his desk, or standing next to me, it was his beautiful eyes demand notice, eyes that were always searching for understanding, truth, and what is right.

Since freshman year, Kyle never passed me in the hall without a hello and a hug. He wrote a beautiful note and put it in my appreciations bag at the CAS junior retreat. He always showed concern for being good and true.

My last memory of Kyle is when he and Callie come to my room, the week before spring break, to interview me for the video they’re making on “CAS and AC.” I’m hurrying off to little league practice, so I give the interview and have no memory of hugging him—just rushing out. It’s an uneventful last memory, which is why I’m so thankful of all the others. But what does stand out is how Kyle had changed from that unsure 9^th grader I knew and loved. The Kyle who interviewed me knew what was important to him, knew who his friends were, knew who he was and what he wanted to be.

I am thankful to Kyle’s friends—thanks for being a daily reminder of him, his spirit, his love and his hugs.

And thank you to Kyle’s family—Sharleen Craig, Persis, Niko and everyone else—for trusting CAS with your beautiful Kyle.