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My baby graduated from high school!

Today was amazing. My daughter graduated. My daughter. Not step daughter. Not bonus daughter but my daughter. Our daughter 💖 (Eema and Tyrec thank you both so much for allowing me to join this team). This journey has been one that I could never have even imagined and I am still having trouble getting the words together without shedding tears. This journey has been full of love from all parties. Jaleya is apart of my entire heart and I love her with everything in me. And she is now a high school graduate. From my beloved Mastery Lenfest. Graduation is my job. A job that I always take incredibly seriously. But my baby broke me. She broke the serious, straight to the point, graduation time keeping, straight faced, celebrating to a minimum, no tears at graduation Mrs. Martin.

If you know me you know how truly passionate I am about college and career training for young adults and finding money for college. You know that I dive into my work head first and am considered a school mom or auntie to many who cross my path. For 10 years I have served as College Advisor at my school and taken on various roles to support our children and staff. But everything changed once my big girl joined my school. The place where I built a no nonsense reputation was now her home for the last two years of high school and I was going to make sure that she had the best experience possible. The team of teachers that she had during her time at Lenfest was no less than incredible, especially when dealing with me and my sometimes pushing and prodding from the sidelines. This was hard for me. One of the hardest things I've ever done. To balance being a career woman while being a mother at the same time on a stage where everyone could see. Balancing relationships everyday. The relationship between Jaleya and I. The relationship between my colleagues and I. And also the relationship between my students. I don't play favorites unless a kid proves worthy and I did not want to give the impression that Lay was being treated any differently than anyone else. Jaleya was a student in my class in a grade in which I was the team lead. I had to grade her and judge her just as I would everyone else. This year was hard, but we made it. Through it all Lay persevered.

Graduation Day was amazing. She won two awards, the Mindfulness of Social Justice and the Community Excellence Award which comes with a $1000 scholarship!! She will be attending Lincoln University this fall!

She is an Urban League of Philadelphia Scholarship winner and a Beech Enterprises Scholarship winner!

She is also a Social Justice warrior having defended the rights of those less fortunate including participating in Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, Suicide Prevention Walk, AIDS Walk, National School Walkout for Gun Violence Prevention, Trans March, PRIDE walk, Walk Against Rape Culture and the list goes on and on. She is always protesting and standing up for the rights of others. She even wrote a petition to change an in school policy that discriminated against her fellow students. SHE IS SO DECENT!!! I LOVE HER!!

She is an esteemed model and dancer and an avid animal lover. ALWAYS VOLUNTEERING!!

Words can not express how proud I am of her.

Eema. Thank you. I love you. I cherish our relationship and how we have grown in this three parent team. I admire so much about you and your relationships with as you say "all of our kids" and how you care for everyone despite yourself. You are a warrior. Thank you for having my back for all these years. Jaleya has so much of you inside of her. She's strong because of you. No matter what anyone says about us and our relationship you stick up for me as if I were blood and I appreciate that more than you know. We did it!!

Baby. Tyrec. You have given me one of the greatest gifts of my life. Jaleya is my world and you know this. Thank you for entrusting me with her and believing that all of this would work. Our baby is going to college and Mom Mel would be so proud. I love you. I love you. Thank you.

MY BABY GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL!!!

MS. JALEYA MARTIN CLASS OF 2019
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY BOUND!!!

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