By Reed Gabhart, Head of Goshen Campus
We’ve now made it through our first full week of school and it’s been pretty smooth sailing! On Tuesday, we had our always-exciting Welcome Back Assembly where all the new students and teachers were introduced. We always have some “fun” with the new teachers and have them draw a question written by our 8th graders to learn some interesting (and slightly embarrassing!) fun facts. The students asked such probing questions as:
- “What is your favorite emoji?”
- “ What was your worst haircut?” (I’m glad I didn’t draw that one!)
- “If you could get in a time machine and go anywhere, past or future, where would it be?”
Here are some interesting tidbits we found out!
- TLC Coordinator Leslie Axel has been a hot air balloon guide!
- Kindergarten teacher Larry Elder plays the accordion (and we will definitely take him up on that in a future assembly!).
- Chinese teacher Qiuhua Qin is a wedding singer on the side!
- Middle School math teacher Claudia Snow likes to ride motorcycles!
It’s always great to add some personality to our newest St. Francis additions, and Larry remarked afterwards on what a great assembly he thought it was and what a warm, community feeling itengendered. They are all off to a great start – as are we!
Last weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the National Youth Arts Awards in New York City for,
I believe, the seventh year in a row. Senior division award winner junior Caroline Frederick accepted her accolade with a speech, and Natalie Koch G’18 and Riley Elliott G’18 also traveled to NYC to accept their awards. And for the fourth year in a row, one of our shows, last fall’s You Can’t Beat the House, won for Best Junior High Ensemble. It is so rewarding and reaffirming to be among an auditorium of talented kids and adults who all love the performing arts. We honored our winners and many nominees at the Welcome Back Assembly, and you can find the full list of 2017-18 awards and nominations in this newsletter.