Graduation 2019 Speaker and Logistics

Graduation 2019 Speaker Annoucement:

We are delighted to welcome Congressman Jamie Raskin to be this year’s Grace graduation speaker.

Congressman Jamie Raskin represents Maryland’s 8th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Montgomery, Carroll, and Frederick Counties. He was sworn into his second term at the start of the 116th Congress on January 3, 2019.

A member of the Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Reform Committee, Raskin is also a newly appointed member of the powerful House Committee on Rules; vice chair of both the House Administration Committee and the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution; and chair of the Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties and the Subcommittee on Expedited Procedures, which is working to fast-track key pieces of legislation. As the Democratic Caucus leadership representative for the 116th Congress, Raskin represents junior members of the Caucus (those who have served five or fewer terms) at the leadership table. He was also appointed to serve as a senior whip for the 116th Congress.

Before entering Congress, Raskin was a three-term state senator in Maryland, where he also served as the Senate majority whip. He earned a reputation in Annapolis for building strong bipartisan coalitions and delivered a series of landmark legislative accomplishments, including marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, Maryland’s farm-to-schools program, and restoration of voting rights to former prisoners. For more than 25 years, he was a professor of constitutional law at American University’s Washington College of Law and authored dozens of law review articles and several books, including the Washington Post best-seller Overruling Democracy: The Supreme Court versus the American People and the highly acclaimed We the Students: Supreme Court Cases For and About America’s Students, which has sold more than 50,000 copies.

Graduation 2019 and End-of-Year Logistics:

• The last day of school for Preschool and Prekindergarten students is Thursday, June 6. Preschool and Prekindergarten families are invited to Closing Chapel/Graduation and the Celebration Picnic, on Friday, June 7.
• For students in Kindergarten-Grade 5, Closing Chapel/Graduation is Friday, June 7, at Grace Church. Parents may drop students off in Grace Church parking lot or park and walk students into the Undercroft during normal arrival: 8:30 am – 8:45 am. Please Note: Parking is limited in the Church lot. Please make sure to leave ample time to find unrestricted street parking.
• Beforecare is not available. 
• Parents and guests are invited for coffee in the Undercroft from 8:30 am-9:15 am.
• Graduation runs 9:15 am-10:00 am. All students should be picked up from the Undercroft by 10:00 am.
• All families are invited to bring a picnic as we continue the celebration on the playground from 10:15 am-12:00 pm. Cake and beverages will be provided. If the weather prevents us from being outside, we’ll move into the MPR for cake and drinks, and we’ll end by 11:30 am. 
• Aftercare is not available.
• Parents of students in Kindergarten through Grade 4 have received an email with more detailed information including a permission slip that should be returned by May 31. To access the permission slip, click here. 
• Please reach out to Division Directors, Pam Yarrington, pyarrington@geds.org or Gail Kennedy, gkennedy@geds.org, if you have questions.