M.S. Awards Ceremony

BFA is such a transient community. It's an unavoidable trait considering our purpose and the identity of our students. Missionaries move, military families are reassigned, business families transfer, not to mention seniors graduate. Every year, the good-byes are emotion-filled and many, and I'd like to say it gets easier, but so far Year 2 has proven much more difficult than Year 1.

I tell you this, however, to go a step further and say how impressed I have been with the effort BFA puts into saying good-bye well. Over the past few weeks, I've seen several instances of encouragement and gathering of people who know fully well, this is the "last" whatever, and they intentionally soak it in. Last night, in particular, the Middle School hosted its annual 8th grade Banquet followed by the Middle School Awards Ceremony. It's a time for all to recognize some of the achievements of the past year (academics, music, spiritual growth, ...) and to offer the 8th graders some transition into high school.

Here are some pictures from the dinner:

At the Ceremony itself, the most unique and special part of the evening is the reading of the 8th grade tributes. Several teachers write personalized tributes for 2-3 students they think they know the best and then read them aloud for all their parents and peers. It's powerful, especially when older siblings and even BFA alumni come up and tell you afterwards how they still have their tribute and read it from time to time.

I was thrilled with the three students I got to write for and admit I shed more than one tear in writing (and reading) them. Here's a video of one of them:

As much as I hate it, I do have to come to terms with the fact that our school year is over (although I am ready for a break from lesson planning and grading). Some of my students are leaving for good. Some will be gone for a year or two, and of course some will be back in the fall. I've learned a lot from all of them, and I praise God and thank you for allowing me to be a part of their lives.

More funny lines

Student running for next year's class president:

"Elections are like wedgies. One good pick, and you're set for a comfortable ride!"

Lines of the Day

#1, from the mouth of a 13-year-old:

"I'd like to be president because, well, I've never been president before."

#2:

"After the Middle Ages, many changes occurred because of the Renaissance starting to unwrap."

Lugano: Thursday and Friday

Thursday was more of a work day for the kids. In the morning, they did a mapping activity from their hike, and while they did that, I graded all their castle sketches. Some were really impressive. Then in the afternoon, they had to spend a good hour working on English, which was to write a creative short story set in the 1400's in or around the Bellinzona castles. I was in charge of grading those, too, and it was actually really fun to read their ideas and see the castles through their eyes.

Finally, they arrived at their play time, and they even managed to get our Principal (top left corner) wet. She was a good sport!
Friday was for cleaning up and driving home, though we did have one FUN stop: a chocolate factory. The all-you-can-eat sample bar was amazing, but the site in this photo was actually quite hard to watch, almost physically painful. They took chocolate bars off the assembly line that didn't make the cut and ... and ... tossed them!!!

I didn't realize SJ snuck into this picture to "milk" the cow till later.

The day was supposed to end with lunch by the lake, at which point we took this group photo. Then we piled into the vans and began the trek northward. Unfortunately, we didn't get very far because one of the vans broke down. (I have no pictures, sadly.) We ended up waiting nearly 4 hours for Roadside assistance, used up all 30 Euros worth of minutes on my phone, and they still hadn't found us. Finally, we left behind one of our leaders and 2 students, squeezed everybody else into the vans that were left, and continued on to BFA. Parents were pretty excited we brought their kids back, even though it was nearly 11 pm by the time we did. And I have to say: I was pretty impressed with the students and their lack of complaining through the whole ordeal as we sat there in the heat just waiting. What a great group of kids!

Organizing parent calling chains

More Minute to Win It

Lugano: Wednesday

(Read to the end for a moving story.)

Tuesday was our Science/PE day. We took the Funicolare up the peninsula in the middle of Lake Lugano to the top of Mount San Salvatore. Check out the view that our 8th grade boys managed to spruce up. Awww.
The hike down was actually quite the killer, which I never thought I'd say of a DOWNhill hike, but 1,500 steps will do that to me. My job was to catch all the stragglers at the back and keep them moving. For the second half of the day, it was these two lovely girls. We had such great conversations, and I'm really grateful for our time together. Check out our view along the way as well.
Everyone was especially thankful to reach the bottom and the lake. The ferry ride back to the parking lot was invigorating. Rachel played captain the whole way. (Okay, not really, just for a few seconds.)
Once back at the Youth Centro, nobody wasted any time getting into swimming suits and jumping into the lake to cool off. After that it was back to devos and games of Minute to Win It. I'll try to add a video as well.
The one downside to this day was that I scratched up the van I was driving. Ahhhh, I know! It was just a block from the Youth Centro, and I was immediately upset. (Even yelled at the kids for squealing and had to apologize for it later.) As I walked back to the corner to check out the damage to the wall, SJ (in the last picture) offered to walk with me. Sensing my depressed mood, he reached out to pat my arm.

"It's okay, Miss Custer. You don't need to be sad. Remember, you're worth more than a van."

"Are you getting back at me for saying this to you all year long? That you're worth more than your grades?"

"Uh-huh. Is it working?"

Made everything all better again.

Lugano: Tuesday

Tuesday morning, we met at school at 8:30 and loaded 25 students and 5 chaperones into 4 school vans for our 4-hour trip to Lugano. Along the way, we stopped at the Bellinzona castles: three medieval fortifications that are in surprisingly good shape. It was SO MUCH FUN researching them and teaching about them to the kids. It'll just never be the same to teach in a regular classroom again!

Walking the battlements with Rachel

Rachel also found the 600-year-old latrines.

The students' assignment was to sketch 8 castle parts,

combining history and art into one lesson.

We arrived at the Centro Evangelico Magliosa outside of Lugano around 5 pm, giving the kids enough time to explore the grounds and get settled in before supper and our evening program. On Tuesday, the devotions were about "encouragment," and the students engaged in a cool activity in which they wrote each other notes. I love the look on JB's face as he reads his sheet. The rest of the evening was for fun and games - various versions of Minute to Win It. That's what the video in the last post was about, too.

Foosball was a big hit, and the best player of all was the Principal, Ms. Steele!

How many cards could you knock down with an unlimited supply of rubber bands?