Yesterday, I attended our school's presentation to the school board. Not only was there a rendition from the choir and a well constructed video made by members of our student counsel (even if the internet lag worked against it), but we had multiple students who had the courage to speak in public to the board--some planned, others improvised. They demonstrated their love for their school and their education while advocating to keep facilities such as our pools and our theaters open and staffed--an issue since they are on the chopping blocks ... again.
I've already mentioned that I attended this year's musical, The Wizard of Oz. I have the pleasure of knowing various students who were involved with many different aspects of the play, from onstage roles, to playing in the pit, to working set crew, dealing with lights, helping with costumes and makeup. All of them put in a tremendous amount of time and energy into making that story come to life.
More than one of the students that I know was involved in all three. For that matter, the same can be said for our music teachers who have had a nearly non-stop schedule since before Thanksgiving, but who certainly put in the extra time these past couple of weeks. We are truly blessed with an excellent music program--a program that has had to do extra duty since so many of our "feeder" elementary schools either no longer have an actual music instructor or who have no music program at all. [Oh, and before anyone starts complaining about school priorities, they had better make certain they are voting for politicians who are actually funding education rather than trying to cut it.]
Basically, I'm so tremendously impressed by our students and our staff.