ABSTRACT
Although I already ended the book on the last page of Chapter 7, I have to share with you my experience of attending the sixth-grade graduation at Live Oak today. Of the parents who appear in this book, the following watched a child graduate this morning: Loreto, Imelda, Jenine, Zoe, Jimi, Edgar, Gloria, Ximena, Kris, Yvonne, Lidia, and Marisol. And out of 85 children graduating, I may have missed a few. Several children of my participants received awards, ranging from attendance to mathematics; two made bilingual speeches. The top award at Live Oak, for community building, was won by the daughter of Mexican immigrants who started attending Intercambio in fall 2016, after I completed my research. Now they are all going off to junior high school, some to the Spanish immersion program at Eucalyptus, many to Hibiscus. Jenine and Marisol are already agitating for more appropriate Spanish classes at Hibiscus. These children were kindergartners during the white flight year of 2011–2012. Seeing them cross the sunny quad to receive their diplomas was like watching a phoenix soar in the California sky.
