When Your Students Become Part of Your Social Life

This weekend was "hang out with your students" weekend and I wouldn't have a changed a thing. 

Friday Night, February 6th - Romania Fundraiser Talent Show

The majority of the Romania team in between the clean-up dance party

I know a lot of you were praying for our Fundraiser Event this past Friday (Feb. 6th) in which we hosted a Talent Show in order to raise money for our mission trip to Romania. First off, THANK YOU for your prayers. The whole event went very smoothly and was a big hit. All of the students who are attending this trip worked very hard to make this event a success. They cooked, cleaned, performed, and had great attitudes throughout the whole event. We have some seriously talented students and I was overcome with the urge to learn a musical instrument, taking singing lessons, or learn some new dance moves ASAP. Apparently my moves are "too white". 

Preparing the delicious spring rolls

I was thoroughly impressed by these teenager's work ethic and their ability to host this type of event. Over 125 people attended this event and we raised over 1.000 euro. We made our profit by serving Filo food (made by our students) homemade desserts (a HUGE thanks to all the moms who donated), and raffling off a few goodies. 

High School boys stealing all the girl's hearts by singing some Sam Smith

All the money that we raised will be used to help the organization, River of Life, build homes for the elderly women that have been abandoned and to purchase a ping pong table for the children in the compound. Our school has been connected with this organization for over 10 years and many of the students have been going for almost four years now. This event is very special to our students because have built deep relationships with a lot of the women and children in Romania. They know these women's stories and it makes this fundraiser all the more personal. I feel blessed to be apart of this ministry and to help make these trips possible. 

 Saturday, February 7th - Senior Class Party

When I first started teaching at ICSV, I signed up to be the Freshman Class Sponsor. A class sponsor is someone who helps the students plan events, supervise them through study hall, pour into their lives, and just be available when needed. This class quickly grabbed my heart and I have loved watching them grow up and face high school. They are now Seniors and it really saddens me to think this is my last year with them. (I'll write more about our relationship later). Anyway, we usually plan a few class parties throughout the year in order to spend time together. Sadly, this year has gone by too fast and we finally just had our first class party this year. We decided to combine all the parties we would've had into one. Therefore, we ate LOTS of food, played a few games, had a white elephant Valentine's gift exchange, and even made a few silly music videos. (I'll post one on their graduation day). This class is fun, genuine, goofy, talented, smart, and a class that I will miss dearly.

Cool kids

Senioritis