The End of an Era

"It's the end of an era," I say dramatically, holding the back of my hand to my forehead. The 6th graders chuckle, and after a final prayer of blessing, they rush out of the room down to the gym, yearbooks firmly clutched in their hands. The 8th graders emerge from their final exams more slowly. Some are high giving their classmates; others silently lay their heads on a friend's shoulder, the grief of the upcoming good-byes too much for words right now. The gym and courtyard are both abuzz with activity, from a game of Knock Out to the colored pens flying across the table for yearbook signatures, everyone is outside. Everyone is looking for closure on this, our last day of school.

I may have been joking about the end of the an era, but the end of every year at BFA sort of feels that way. As I watch the camaraderie and the hugs upon hugs, I remember the good times - the Annie Jr. play, the fun debates in class when EL finally found her voice, the success in Paris and Rome with the History team, DF's baptism just one month ago. Not that there were no struggles along the way either. Having to play peacekeeper between two feuding students, trying to get a new addition up to speed in the social studies when he didn't even want to be here, and walking through the receiving of bad news with friends are never easy tasks. But looking at the 8th graders today warms a little fuzzy spot in my heart.

IK isn't the same person he was three years ago. He even smiles at me when I hand him his popsicle. HG approaches her studies with a much cooler head. KP has grown into his own skin, and HK is still a quirky character but with a maturity that would have been hard to imagine 20 months ago. They change so much, and I mourn the loss of them as my students when things are just getting to be so good (as every year). This is the day when I have to face the fact that my time with them really is at an end. They will move on to high school, and it's good. It's time. But they definitely take a piece of my heart with them.

History Competition Part 2: Rome Edition

The day had finally arrived. The garlic coated the Italian air, my students' bellies were full of pasta and gelato from the night before, JS's Bee semi-finalist medal hung proudly around his neck from the day before, and we were all sitting in the chapel of St. Stephen's eyeing our competition. The teams who had done this before were obvious. They were laughing lightly, waving to old friends across the room, and hoisting their mascot lemon high on each other's shoulders. It was clear we were an odd phenomenon to many of these international schools. A favorite memory has to be overhearing MS (not a missionary kid) trying to explain to a new friend how BFA operated. "They still have missionaries?!" the kid asked incredulously.

At that moment, the founder of the IHBB (International History Bee & Bowl) came out to greet us and review the rules once again. I glanced down the aisle at my 6 students who had heard this quite a few times by now, but they still sat enraptured and focused. The signal to start came very suddenly, and we were off to our first of five preliminary rounds.

Round 1 was read by the British-accented Richard whom we remembered from our time in Paris. With questions and categories such as "Medieval terms," "World War 1," and "Rome's enemies," we owned that round and breathed a sigh of relief that at least we wouldn't go home complete losers - every Middle Schooler's worst nightmare, right? Round 2 was interesting because the buzzers didn't work, and we had to rely on knocking. Things were a little fishy when one of our opponents kept answering aloud before waiting to see if he truly had knocked first, and I sat in the back of the room with my blood pumping harder than I care to admit. The game ended in a tie, but fortunately we won the tie breaker. Relieved, we moved on to Round 3, our strongest, and in a room where the buzzers were working! Round 4 saw our one defeat of the preliminaries. The opponents were an average of 1-2 years older than us, though they were extremely kind and gracious toward us. Round 5 was solid as we swept the other team for another win. Our 4-1 record set us up well for the afternoon as we were seated third out of eight Junior Varsity teams.

After some gelato for strength, we returned to St. Stephen's for the Semi-Finals. It took us a while to find our room, which frazzled some of my students and made me sweat. The heat hid my nervousness nicely. Another one of our contacts from Switzerland read the competition for this round, and it's the most nerve-racking thing to know that your students know the answers and hear the other team buzz in first time and time again. It was an extremely close match, but in the end we lost by merely 30 points. Heads held high, the students collected their bronze Semi-Finalist plaque, marking our third place.

In our last few hours in Rome, we were able to take in a few sights, particularly the Colloseum, and eat some more pizza and gelato while collected the sun on our skin. The kids were great, and I along with my colleague Brittany Mann couldn't be more proud of their accomplishments and the humility with which they pulled it off. Perhaps next year, that gold plaque will be ours, and if not, then at least I hope our witness will leave an indelible mark.