“I just want to tell you something before you leave. You are all going to junior high next year and then high school after, and then university or college years after that. Some of you will go to different schools. And even if you do go to the same schools, you will make new friends and some of you won’t be friends anymore. You may not think so right now, but it’s true. Sometimes people are going to do mean things to you and you will sometimes do mean things to others. You will have hard classes and you will have easy classes. You will like some of your teachers and others you won’t. But no matter where you go in life and no matter what you do, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how bad it seems, I want you to know one thing: It will pass. Believe me. You will get through it. I promise you.   *pause*   *pause*     Good luck and have a great summer.”

– Mrs Ward, Grade 6 Teacher, Last day of school, June 1996