Skip to main content

Leadership Banquet

My leadership students, their families, and I just celebrated the school year tonight with a banquet. We began with dinner, which was followed by speeches from our student council president and three leadership students. We then watched an imovie that highlighted the year's events, which was followed by what at least some thought was the best part of the evening. Eighth-grade students took the stage for a candle-lighting ceremony. After they lined up along the front of the stage, I lit the candle of one student. She then lit the candle of the next student, and so on until all candles were lit. Seventh-grade students then took the stage and the eighth-grade students turned to light their candles. Thereafter, one of the two emcees explained the symbolism behind the ceremony, and as seventh grade stepped forward to take the front of the stage, eighth grade stepped back and blew out their candles. It symbolized a passage of leadership from the current eighth-grade students to next year's eighth-grade students.

After the ceremony, we presented awards to each student. The horrible part is that we did not include one seventh-grade student, so I opened a PowerPoint presentation with the certificate we chose and wrote ""Most Flexible and Forgiving" and displayed it for the audience. We then recognized this student, and everyone applauded.

After the students in both grades received their rewards, we thanked the audience and ended by watching our self-made Harlem Shake video. I got the impression that the night was a success, and that the class enjoyed the year.

Although the busyness of the year is by no means over, student and teacher alike do see the end. I'm proud to say that this realization has reminded me of the overall success of the year, both academically and socially.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Heroes

Although we have several examples of heroes in our day, one of the best known is of a woman named Agnes Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (“Gonja Bojaju”), who devoted her life to sustaining the “poor, sick, orphaned, and dying.” Her venue was Calcutta, India, where she served as a teacher until she began to take notice of the poverty there. Seeking to do something about it, she began an organization that consisted of just thirteen members at its inception. Called the “Missionaries of Charity,” the organization would eventually burgeon into well over 5,000 members worldwide, running approximately 600 missions, schools and shelters in 120 countries; and caring for the orphaned, blind, aged, disabled, and poor. As her personal work expanded, she traveled to countries like Lebanon, where she rescued 37 children from a hospital by pressing for peace between Israel and Palestine; to Ethiopia, where she traveled to help the hungry; to Chernobyl, Russia, to assist victims of the nuclear meltdown there; and to
2 comments
Read more

Comparative Medical Care

One thing I'd like to understand is why there is such a difference between medical costs here and those in Haiti. At the time the book Mountains Beyond Mountains was written, in 2003, it often cost $15,000 to $20,000 annually to treat a patient with tuberculosis, while it cost one one-hundredth of that-- $150 to $200-- to treat a patient for the disease in Haiti. Even if the figures aren't completely accurate, the sheer difference would still be there. Indeed, the United States pays more per capita for medical care than any other country on Earth. My first guess for why the disparity exists is that there is a market willing and able to pay more for medical treatment, so suppliers see the demand and respond with higher prices. According to at least one doctor (go to http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2009/05/what_is_the_cause_of_excess_co.php), part of the reason is administrative prices here. People here have a higher standard of living, and so the cost of care is shifted to
2 comments
Read more

Movie Night

We did it again. My leadership class and I put together another event. We invited the school to watch Dispicable Me . The movie was a hit, so much so that one little girl got up to dance with the main character at the end of the movie. It was a wholesome family night, and on a Monday no less! There were very few issues. It was just a relaxing evening. We're going to use the proceeds to pay for our leadership conference in late March and early April. It should make for a meanigful experience. Signing off...
1 comment
Read more