We have come to the end of our first FULL week of school. It is Friday afternoon; advisee time has ended and students are in 5th period. I am listening to the band class play some great jazz numbers while I think about the week ahead. During lunch and advisee time, I asked one of my senior advisees, Hannah Strom, to take some pictures of Upper School life. She did a great job. I am happy to share some of them as a part of this blog. Without mentioning the order (because they are never the same on different computers), here is what you might be looking at: The Freedom Wall under the deck was created by 2007 graduate Callum Harper. The idea is that kids and/or classes can spray paint messages, poetry, artwork, etc. on the wall. It really is quite fascinating to see what they come up with. There is a picture of some of our wonderful students hanging out on the patio...in deep discussion. You can see another group playing basketball on the nature court while senior Jasmine Berry studies for her ACT exam, which she will take on Saturday. You can also see Dave's advisee group enjoying Chinese food while some of them play a video game.
In the Upper School, advisee time comes once/week on Friday. We add an extra 45 minutes to lunch, and groups can use that time in a variety of ways. Each week, 3-4 groups go off-campus for lunch. Today's groups went to 9th Street, the Loop, and Ming Garden. Some groups order food and bring it to school. One group celebrated a birthday today with hot buiscuits and a yummy cake. One of my advisees made a cake for us today just out of the kindness of her heart. After devouring the cake, we did some campus clean-up by emptying recycling bins and sweeping the patio. One group went to the home of a fellow advisee to swim in his pool.
As it says in our Handbook, the advisor-advisee relationship is at the core of a CFS education. Building community begins with one-on-one relationships and a feeling of family in an advisee group. From there, we can come together as an Upper School community. We have 3 advisee days during the year. Our first "day" is actually a half-day on Friday, September 26th. We encourage our groups to make at least one of their days service-related.
Our Bolivian intern Alicia will share slides about her home with our students on Monday during Group Collection. As Alicia shared them with me this week, I was struck by the huge leap she has taken by living in Durham and being a part of our community. Until she came here, she had never flown in a plane or ridden in a car. She had never even seen a dishwasher or a mircrowave oven. As she showed me slides of her home, I didn't see a single tree! She is working hard to get to know everybody and keep up with their rapid English. Alicia is a delightful young woman who must be going through terrible home sickness by now. We are thrilled to have her with us. This weekend, she will go to Washington, DC, with one of our families. Next weekend, she will celebrate her birthday--her first away from her family. I hope you get to meet her this year.
Next weekend, interested sophomores will join Susan, Tim, and Jonathan McGovern as they travel to Newton Grove for the Farmworkers Festival. We have built a strong relationship with Father Tony and the important work he is doing with migrant farmworkers and their families. During the Festival, our students will help Father Tony with whatever he needs. They will no doubt play some soccer, serve some food, and help with keeping the area clean. We treasure the time we are able to spend in Newton Grove and continue to learn about what a life of service can mean to a great deal of people. It is truly an honor to have someone like Father Tony in our lives.
We have home soccer, volleyball, and tennis matches on Tuesday. Hope to see you there!
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