I Am From
The last bus just pulled away, and we have one school week on the books! It was wonderful meeting our new families and students, and to see the many familiar, smiling faces streaming through the doors this week. On Tuesday, our teachers were here for meetings and classroom set up and there was so much joy and excitement in the room during our closing circle. We missed the students and look forward to the school year. Once the students arrived, we got to work with launching our advisory and elective programs, establishing routines and procedures, and ensuring that our new staff members were supported and successful as they kicked off the new year. Our PTO-funded chess program is also underway, and I thank you again for your financial contributions.
Many of you may have heard, but Maryana Sigalova, formerly our Pupil Accounting Secretary, accepted a full-time teaching position at another school and will not be returning to BSI. Maryana will be missed in the office, but I am excited about this new opportunity for her. She assured me that she will still be here to volunteer when she can; as she feels a strong connection to the community. Please direct any pupil accounting questions to Suzanna Peci in the main office.
On Tuesday, I spoke with the staff about the “I am From” project https://iamfromproject.com/. The project encourages celebration of diversity through poetry and other art forms. I shared a poem with the staff that I wrote about experiences that shaped me as a person. Below is an excerpt from my poem.
I am from the woods across my street, hopping trickling creeks, skipping rocks, unsupervised, unstructured
From Sundays, following my grandfather around, as he patiently changed the oil in his truck, while I asked him a hundred questions about fish he thought we would catch on our next camping trip
I’m from competitive, summer wiffle ball games, where I was Darryl Strawberry, in the bottom of the ninth, with the bases loaded in the 1986 world series
from Commodore 64s, Cabbage Patch Kids, baseball cards and Tecmo Bowl
I’m from the basement of my parents’ house, listening to my father’s classic rock records, dreaming of one day leaving Ohio, for California; or maybe New York City
Some of the teachers replicated this activity this week in their classrooms.
A big thank you to the parent volunteers that were here this week to receive and organize school supplies. It takes the entire community to ensure that we smoothly open the school year.
I look forward to seeing our students again on Wednesday morning. It is going to be an amazing school year!