It was a beautiful June day and it was James graduation day. James graduated with honors and was the top student at his campus (the Taylor campus). James had been attending Wayne County Community College for two years and has earned his first college degree. It came on a sad note though as his Grandma had passed away the day before.

James has been on the Tigers Jumbotron and the Lions, all within a few weeks of each other.

The ceremony was beautiful and held at Ford Field in Detroit (where the Lions play. The ceremony took a couple hours and concessions were open for it, although I do not think alcohol was being served. After the ceremony we took James to his favorite restaurant and then home for ice cream and cake (and congratulatory balloons)!

Congratulations James, we are all so very proud of you.

Continue reading “2023 James Graduation from Wayne County Community College” →

This has been Jame’s best year so far in school with so many awards it was hard to keep count. Not only did he graduate but he also graduated with honors and made the honor roll.

James’ awards and honors (in addition to graduating) are as follows:

2021 Math Award
2021 History Award
2021 Business Award
2021 Special Services Award
2021 Honor Roll
2021 Track and Field Award
2021 Dale Preussner Scholarship Award

After James graduated we headed home to use the facilities since we were in the car for nearly 3 hours, but no one was complaining. James laid out his diploma next to Dad’s and it looked like very little had changed in their diploma, even the font was the same.

We headed to Applebee’s which is one of James’ favorite places to eat. James had his picture taken next to the Annapolis sign which was hanging over a table there. We were all very hungry and thirsty as we knew we were going to be sitting in a car for a while and did not want to have to worry about bathroom breaks.

After eating we headed home and James opened up some of the cards he received for graduation. We could not do alot because we had to take James to the senior all night party which would begin in a few hours.

Thanks to everyone who supported James through his career at Annapolis. We regret that we will not be having a graduation party due to the pandemic but hope to see you all very soon. This decision is ours because I did not want anyone to feel uncomfortable at a graduation party setting. Continue reading “A Little After Graduation Celebration” →

The day could not have been better as we headed to Ford Field in Dearborn for James’ graduation ceremony. Ford Field is where Dearborn Homecoming is hosted and is very popular with the kids for sledding, in fact James went there sledding once with Dad a while back and now it would be the site of his graduation.

We lined up at 4 pm and waited till about 5:30 for the speeches to begin. James spent some of this time socializing and taking pictures with his friends. Once the speeches ended it moved pretty quickly, we were the second group or cars called and we followed each other slowly in a car procession. When we got to where we could see the podium, James jumped out and went up to receive his diploma. We were very far away in the car but did manage to get a shot of it by zooming in on the camera. We did pay $10 for a professional picture so we are looking forward to that (note, we received it and it is now the main pic in the article).

Once James returned to the car, we moved forward to get out of the way and saw a sign with his picture on it that we liked. His principle came to the car and gave us the actual diploma and talked to us for a bit. The procession part was fun because his parents got to be part of the ceremony by driving him, rather than being spectators in a hall.

We then drove off into the sunset as James’ High School Career (and his fathers for that matter) was now complete. He will have a couple more events this week and next but scholastically he is done with High School. Congrats to James on this achievement. Continue reading “JAMES GRADUATES HIGH SCHOOL” →

The house is all ready for graduation day as we anxiously await its arrival.

On the inside we have a couple of helium balloon displays (one of which made it through the parade which really amazed us), and on the outside we have almost every banner and sign we could fit on the property.

There were two signs that had James’ name on them, the first we had to pay $15 for and the second one we were given by Annapolis and it has James’ picture on it. James worked on the decorations himself and he removes them each week to allow Dad to mow the lawn.

With that being said, we are now officially decorated and ready to graduate! Continue reading “Ready and Decorated for Graduation” →

Wednesday June 11 at about 1:30 pm James graduated from Hoover elementary, the second Kleiber ever to do so (The first was Uncle Don a few decades earlier). James graduated with honors and we were very proud of him. James did not stay too long afterwards because he had a loose tooth and it was bothering him.

We took him to the dentist that afternoon and the dentist “wiggled” the tooth out so James had graduation and the dentist on the same day. The next day was an optional half day for kids and Jame’s whole class turned out for the optional half day, knowing that they would probably not see Hoover elementary for a while.

James was promised a lunch of his choice but because his tooth was bothering him on graduation, his special lunch was delayed for a day. He ended up at his favorite restaurant, the China Buffet.

Continue reading “James Graduates Hoover Elementary” →

Renee Graduated from Trenton High School on a beautiful day in 1992, following in the footsteps of her brother and father.

The current school complex was constructed in 1953 on a plot bounded by West, Westfield and Charlton roads and Edsel Drive. The school was built to handle a surge in students following World War II and the expansion of western Trenton, which was quickly expanding. The building was known as West Road Elementary School and housed elementary school students until Hedke, Anderson, Foley and Owen elementary schools opened in the 1950s.

Continue reading “Renee Graduation 1992” →

Ron Graduates from Trenton High School in 1987, following in the footsteps of his father.

The Trenton High School complex was constructed in 1953 on a plot bounded by West, Westfield and Charlton roads and Edsel Drive. The school was built to handle a surge in students following World War II and the expansion of western Trenton, which was quickly expanding. The building was known as West Road Elementary School and housed elementary school students until Hedke, Anderson, Foley and Owen elementary schools opened in the 1950s.

After the Iranian hostage crisis, James’ Dad left college and joined the military to help out. He went to Military Intelligence School at Ft Devens in Massachusetts and remembers walking to a cool music store that was located in Ayer, a small town outside of the base.

Dad got to see much of New England’s history while stationed here including the USS Constitution and Plymouth Rock. One of his favorite times was camping at Cape Cod which seems odd since when you are in the military you are camping out all the time (its called bivouac or being out in the field).

Charles graduated ahead of his designated time which was a real accomplishment in those days since you had to learn Morse Code or “hacking dits” as they called it at Fort Devens.

Continue reading “James Dad Graduates Military Intelligence School 1981” →

James’ Dad graduated high school way back in 1979, he remembers walking almost a mile to class most days until he got his drivers license and car, then his first speeding ticket in that order. In his senior year, James’ Dad would open up “Leo’s Fruit Market” on Van Born road each morning at 6am, then go to gym class which he arranged to be his first class so he could shower after work.

Many great times at this school, working on floats, going to football games (our team was 1-10 senior year or something like that), and of course learning. Dad took his first electricity class while at Annapolis which would end up being his chosen field (sort of, actually electronics engineer but in order to do electronics you have to do electricity first) during the military and civilian life.

Continue reading “Charles J Kleiber (James Dad) Graduates High School” →