Things are finally getting back to normal, and the last couple weeks of school were filled with all the familiar, fun events. First off, Elena had a field day, or as the school somewhat more accurately called it, a run, jump, and throw day. She wasn't a huge fan of the running, but she loved the jumping and throwing.
I was subbing, so I had quite the view of the proceedings from the balcony, but when the rain let up, I went down to see Elena at her favorite event, the high jump.
She had a great day and slept well that night. The next week, it was Vivian's turn to celebrate, but hers was a much more formal affair. She is finishing up three of the most bizarre years of middle school anyone in the world has ever experienced. She attended three different middle schools, on three different continents, and for 7th grade, she did all her classes online. All the 8th graders got a Class of 2026 shirt, and one of her classmates designed the picture on the back to capture their middle school experience.
2019 started normally, but then in 2020 the virus appeared. They spent most of 2021 online, and then most of 2022 at school, but with masks on. While I hate that covid dominated her middle school experience, I have to say that I found the design to be quite clever.
On the next to last day of school there was a "moving on" ceremony for the 8th graders to mark them moving from middle school to high school. While you can argue that these milestones may get over-celebrated at times, it was really special to have all those kids up on stage and to have the adults who have worked with them over the past year praise their hard work and resilience. The high school principal gave them a short welcome to high school, and then we went outside for pictures and refreshments.
I made a cake for our family celebration, and Jeff put his icing skills to good use. He used the front of her ISKL shirt as a model and created a great decoration for the cake.
Vivian was appropriately impressed, and we all enjoyed the cake.
The next day was a half day of school for Elena. Vivian was officially done, but she still came to school with me to start setting up one of my classrooms. Next year I'm going to be teaching 6th and 8th grade Humanities, which means I will have two classrooms, one at each grade level, so I wanted to get a head start on it, and she was kind enough to help me.
The last day of school ended with a "clap out" where teachers and parents line the long, open walkways of the school and clap as the students leave. Vivian thought it was mortifying, so she hid and clapped with me, but Elena thought it was awesome. Despite all the craziness of the past year, the girls have had a great start to their schooling at ISKL, and we're so excited for two more years of wonderful experiences.
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