creative heARTs: February Madness

This month has been the craziest month ever! It seems like everything spills out during the month of February. First the school hosted the country wide Knowledge bowl competition in which students from all over the country came to our campus to compete to see who had the most knowledge. As it was a teacher work day for us, we were able to see our own students compete. Each match was so intense and it was exciting to see just how much they knew! Our school received 1st place for the varsity team, 1st place for the JV team, and 3rd place for the Middle School team. The following weekend was the teacher retreat out of the city to the Word of Life Camp where we had the opportunity to build community and relax in the sun. And the most recent event was the Music and Art Festival in San Pedro Sula.

After a 5 hour drive to the north coast, we arrived at a hotel with the fluffiest beds that I've been in in a while, air conditioning, and cable - in English!! It was such a blessing to have those few hours to really, now I mean REALLY, relax. Now as far as the festival is concerned, I had 8 students compete. It turned out to be only a one day event this year in which the students had 3 hours to create an artwork in their chosen category (drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media). After the time was up, there would be a lunch break, a workshop, and then the awards ceremony to follow. Due to the safety of our students and travel time we unfortunately weren't able to stay for the awards ceremony and instead had to head back to Tegucigalpa soon after the competition portion of the event. While on our way back we found out that three of my students had received awards!! One of my 9th graders received a 1st place award in her level 5 drawing category. An 11th grader placed 2nd in the level 6 drawing category, and one of my 8th graders placed 3rd in the mixed media category. I was so proud of them!

That same weekend was the Music Festival and they also did very well, with a majority of them receiving a Superior or Excellent rating. So to say the least, we have one more event to knock out this month of madness. Family Fun Day is this coming Saturday and attitudes are on low. There is so much preparation that goes into this event and energy is currently nonexistent. So if you think about us throughout this week, please pray for encouragement, strength, and determination to put our best efforts into this event.