After wandering around the school the past 2 weeks with NO students around, the emptiness has finally been filled! They’re back!
Today we had our Opening Ceremony. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
The teachers lined up to enter the auditorium
The seniors wait eagerly to enter the auditorium for the procession of flags
The “Welcome and Address” from the director came in a rather unexpected way. we all looked up as a large black blob in the rafters began to move, almost like a bat attempting to unfurl its black wings in the shadows of a cave. Suddenly, “Mission Impossible” started playing, and a rope dropped out of the black sack. A bit more wiggling, and a foot appeared!
Phil Peters appeared and rappelled down from the rafters
He then brushed himself off and stepped up to the podium for his welcoming address.
One of my favorite parts of the ceremony was the role call of nations. A staff member read off all of the 52 countries to which students belong (either they lived there, their parents are working there, or they have a passport for that country). As she read off the names, the students who identified themselves with those countries stood up and cheered. This is BFA: a school where the kids identify with many different places, but resonate most strongly not with locations but with people and relationships.
After the Opening Ceremony we had an announcement session that lasted into lunch time, class meetings DURING lunch (I attended the Junior Class meeting now that I’m a Junior Class Sponsor), a rotation in which students visit various stations (extracurricular sign-up, yearbook photo, textbooks, and schedule changes), and then a quick “school day” consisting of 8-minute classes. It was a busy day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s normal schedule! Oh wait, I have bus duty in the morning…
