Ambassador

This year my 3rd child will be graduating from Middle School, or 8th grade (geesh I'm getting old!). Because of that honor, Deza got to be a "Wood Ambassador" on Tuesday for the incoming 6th graders. And with the clear, palpable confusion of these poor kids evident the minute we came in the door, I completely understand why they have them start classes one day before the rest of the students.



Although I'm not sure that a look like this inspires trust from the 6th graders... I'm sure they thought they would be given wrong locker combinations and placed in the wrong classrooms among other things. Deza loves keeping them guessing!



Deza has gone to Wood since 6th grade so she knows well what it feels like to be a newcomer to a very large Middle School. She understand how much different it is than Primary School and she is very empathetic to the fears and concerns the new kids have. Also she is one of the youngest kids in her grade. Deza was born overseas and started school a year earlier than she would have if born here, so she is very used to being the youngest and the smallest. But, she is also one of the smartest kids in her grade, so she can give encouragement to the new kids on many levels and truly enjoys giving them a helping hand.



Portables. A vision of both success and overcrowding. Due to population growth and being the only Middle School in town, there is a need for these portable classrooms this year and Deza wanted it to be known how distasteful the thought of having classes in the portables is. Not likely her opinion is going to lead to any changes, but she just felt they should know! I told her that I had classes in portables when I was in school, and I encouraged her to be thankful that we are in Oregon and not in Saskatchewan where I grew up. At least here the temperature is no where near the -40 that I frequently dealt with and our portables were freezing!! So, in her last year at Wood, she will celebrate her geometry class in the portables and give thanks everytime the heat clicks in to keep the mobile classroom warm and say a kind thank you to the newbee geo teacher, just out of college who is banished...I mean assigned to it and maybe I'll knit him a scarf!!