Another Year Begins

It's the first day of school and excited face dot the halls around Meade River School. I've had the constant banging on my door for the past two weeks from kids ready for a new year to begin.

With a new year comes new teachers, friends, and something more to do for the students. I was lucky enough to be the female chaperone for the football tournament in Barrow this past weekend. We took fourteen students, six of which were girls. And boy, could they ever take down those boys. Despite the crummy weather (40 degrees and pouring down rain), I stood on the sidelines and cheered those kids on. It was a great thing to watch and even though we lost, the score was very close, 47-55.

They had a chance to play again the next day against the smallest school in our disctrict, Kaktovik. The Rams only had seven players on their team and had to take sixth graders just to have that many players. I was really impressed at the great sportmanship our students showed to that other team. There definitely was the cocky attitude that the team we had played the night before showed and when a player from Kaktovik was injured, we sent in some of our players to take their spot. Angela, the one chosen to play for the Rams from our team, showed no mercy toward her own team, playing to her fullest and even taking out our quarterback. It was great to see her play her all, even if it was going to cost her own team points.

I'm glad to be back at a school where everyone is a team. The feeling of being so close-knit makes a person really feel like they belong. You can see it in the kids too. They know the importance of being honest and lending a helping hand. I'm really looking forward to being back here for another year and ready for it to begin.