You may remember Sakler Moo, a member of the RISSE refugee boy’s soccer team I wrote about and supported when I first got involved with refugee kids and their families in Albany. It was the birth of the Army of Good.

Sakler was a painfully shy and incredibly gifted artist. He was and is especially kind and generous.

His public school teacher Kathy Saso, who worked closely with me then to get her best refugee students into private schools, messaged me this morning to say that Sackler was graduating today from the prestigious Alban Academy with honors and with the school’s Studio Art’s Award for gifted artists.

Sackler also won a second coveted award, the Jack Myles Dehler Memorial Award, the complete works of Shakespeare, and $250 to the graduate “who has excelled both in the arts and academics, and who, by example, has demonstrated significant leadership qualities.”

My time with RISSE, the non-profit refugee support organization,  was difficult and uncomfortable, and I sensed it would be awkward for me to intrude on Sakler for photographs or interviews.

Some refugee children need support; some need to be left alone. I have great respect for boundaries.

It was very thoughtful of Kathy to send me this picture.

After he was accepted to the Albany Academy,  I left Sakler alone and have not heard from him or his family in the four years he was at Albany Academy.  A school official let me know he was doing well.

I found Bishop Maginn around that time, and that was the right place for me. They were as welcoming as RISSE was not.

I wasn’t invited to the graduation, but I am grateful Kathy let me know about it. This was a pretty seismic act of good.

I thought the people who made it possible ought to know how it turned out.

Sakler was, by all accounts, a great student and had four great years at the school.

I wanted to thank you all for making this happen.

We paid his tuition for the entire four years and made it possible for him to get the specialized education he deserves. We changed his life.

He was struggling in public school. Kathy Saso is, like Sue Silverstein, one of those saints who fight for their students every day.

He’s heading off to college in the fall; none of this would have happened without you.

We arranged for eight different children to go to private schools on full scholarships (Risse, the Albany refugee support organization, refused to participate in the program.) Two are at Albany Academy; the others are scattered and flourishing in private schools in the area. All are heading for college.

I’ve stayed away from all of them, thinking they didn’t need to be in the spotlight for now and was then up to my neck in the work at Bishop Maginn.

It is a special gift to help a child and alter the flow of their lives positively. Sakler is an exceptionally gifted and worthy young man, and I wish him every possible happiness and success. I’ll check in on the other seven, I have heard from some of them, and they all have good news to report.

Sakler’s family had some awful struggles to overcome, and this was a great moment for them. Sakler is now one of those great American stories.

I remember we all had lunch together to celebrate Sakler’s admission into the school. I hope our paths will cross one day again.

Congratulations and Godspeed, Sakler; you are bursting with talent, go and fly with it.