A Letter to the Senior Class

When I first moved to Vienna one of my co-workers, who is now a near and dear friend, asked if I would like to partner with her in being the freshman class advisor. I said, "sure, why not." It'd be a good way to get to know some of the students. I remember meeting most of the students who were 14 and 15 years old at the time. They were freshman and we all know what freshman year looks like: awkward, weird, kind of cute, somewhat lost, and funny. We quickly formed a special bond that last throughout their high school years. Now this class is graduating and they asked me to speak at their Senior chapel this past Thursday. I decided to write a letter to them after being their advisor for four years. 

Freshman at the Junior Formal

Dear Senior Class,

Writing a letter to your class is not an easy thing to do. Knowing that I would need to say goodbye has been weighing heavy on my heart since last years Senior class graduated. I knew this year would go by fast and I knew that we would have a lot of “lasts”. The last planned event, the last sports game, the last praise night, the last mission trip, the last Spanish class, and finally our last trip to Croatia. I was not looking forward to these moments. However, they came. The best adjectives I can use to describe them are bittersweet, beautiful disaster or any other oxymoron that communicates both pain and joy. You might not all realize this but this class holds a very special in my heart. I know that most teachers and students are supposed to maintain a distant relationship and not get “too close”, but we all know that ICSV doesn’t exactly follow those rules. In the past four years I have spent more time with most of you than my co-workers, friends, and family. When I first started working at ICSV, it was your freshman year. You were among some of the first people that I ever met in Vienna.  I remember awkwardly shaking Maika’s hand at Freshman orientation. I remember Elin, Sophia, and Jessie Richards sitting in the back of my Spanish class all smiles and trying to speak Spanish. I also remember them chanting “o,as,a,amos,ais,an” in the hallways which made me smile. I remember Steffi R. and Celeste asking me where I was from and what brought me to Vienna. I remember Sam, Anna-Maih and Nidette sitting front row and not being able to figure them out. We then connected on the word bruja and had some good laughs. I remember putting random T-REX slides in my PowerPoints and thinking they were so funny (which they were). I remember Tim leaving Spanish class after the first day and transferring to German. I remember playing knock out with Oscar and Imman at the first coffeehaus and Ms. Martin winning. I remember Sam and Elin coming to volleyball the first day and then deciding to do musical. I remember our first volleyball practice and Sophia serving a bullet across the court. I remember our jumping picture with Joy and the JV team beating the V team at the championship game and taking 2^nd place.  I remember Faith’s dad showing Basti, Mark, Grumba, and Asil how to make curry for our Asia night event.  I remember playing the game, “Are you smarter than an Asian 5^th Grader” and thinking it was somewhat racist. But it is ICSV and somehow race jokes tend to be OK. I remember how everyone told me that this class was a great class and observing you your freshman year I knew that was true. Ms. Gerdes was a great leader and someone I know you were all close to. To be honest I was nervous to take over your sophomore year and be the leader. I didn’t know how we would connect or even get along especially with all the changes your sophomore year brought. Even though Sophomore year was difficult, we grew closer together and our student/teacher relationship started to change. From Sophomore year until now there have been so many sweet memories that I will always cherish. I will miss you coming into my classroom to say hello or talk, I will miss you emailing me to print something for you, I will miss editing your papers, I will miss having Christmas parties where you all come an hour and a half late and I have to entertain John Schneider.  I will miss the white elephant gifts of free google searches, cat’s play pen, one glove, random CDs, and oranges. I will miss watching you guys perform in Chapel, show choir, musicals, open mic nights and all the other random times you just started singing. I will miss watching Hamza dance surprisingly well in the show choir and Peter amazing us all with his guitar skills. I will miss watching Fakhri’s raw talent on the stage and knowing that he found a passion here at ICSV and secretly hoping he is able to pursue that. I will miss getting texts from Faith that just say, “no”. I will miss the girls giving me fashion advice even though I usually have GREAT fashion sense. I will miss Sam being my incredible TA. Even though I didn’t want one this year I am glad you kept asking me. Anna Maih, you seemed to know when I was having a bad day and would always know how to make me feel better whether it was cleaning my whiteboard, giving me random left over food, or just asking how my day was. Megan, I will miss your baked goods at most of the events and your creativity in planning the events. I will miss subbing for Mr. Martin’s 7^th period Pre-Calculus class and talking with Andrey about Russia, war, paint balling and all things random. I will miss coming up with nicknames for Ellig and seeing her smiling face walking down the halls and traveling together. Maika, you’re appealing and a goof but we share the same personality, which has made for a lot of good memories. Steffi, I am so glad you walked into my Spanish 1 class this year. Even though you'd never admit it, you care deeply for people, see the best in most, and fight for justice. You have a great work ethic and I can depend upon you.  I will miss laughing with you and knowing that despite the sadness of letting go, there has been a unique bond formed that I didn’t expect to happen.  And now, it is time to say goodbye to you. The way that I deal with goodbyes tends to be all over the place. I can be distant, emotional, encouraging and just sad. I have decided to tell each one of you what you have meant to me or what I have learned from you. I know I have had different experiences with all of you and some more than others, but you all have made an impact on my life and I want you to remember that. I don’t want you to forget your time here at ICSV and to know how much you are loved, valued, and cherished.

Senior Girls

These next few months you are going to get a lot of advice on “what’s next in your life”, “how to succeed”, “how not to worry about your future”, “what to do in your future” etc. You will go through changes, moves, meet new people, lose friends, face rejection, heartbreak, get accepted, maybe fall in love, start living on your own and start making life decisions that will greatly affect your future. In the next five years some of you will have graduated university, moved countries, have jobs, maybe even getting married. And some of you may still be in Vienna trying to figure life out. I could give you all types of advice on these subjects about how to be careful with your money, how to guard your heart, how to work really hard in university in order to do well in life etc. But at the end of the day money burns, hearts move on, and working hard can seem futile without a purpose. My advice to you is not something new to your ears. It’s something you’ve all heard thousands of times before. Some of you have really wrestled with this lesson and have either decided to embrace it or leave it alone. This is not a subject that is going to magically disappear when you leave ICSV. In fact, my prayer is that it will stay on your hearts and never leave your side. My advice to you is to NOT reject having a relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything we choose to do in this life is all about Jesus. Once we choose to follow Jesus, our identity is secure and we are set free. He is your protector and provider and he will not give up on you. This is a prayer that I will not stop praying for this class. So in closing, thank you senior class for being my family these past four years. Thank you for loving me in difficult times, respecting me in the classroom and when planning events, laughing with me or at me, crying with me, praying for me, traveling with me, taking pictures with me, inviting me to your birthday parties and just being there.

Class of 2015