“You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six.”
– Yogi Berra
I hope that you had a relaxing and fun Spring Break. We had the good fortune to visit Scotland and Ireland over the holiday. As is the way with travels, we had some expected and unexpected experiences. The expected experiences (e.g. seeing the Book of Kells) are what we looked forward to, and they did not disappoint. But the unexpected experiences of travel are often the ones that you remember most. In our case, that most memorable of experiences may have been an unexpected misadventure with black pudding. Though I am not vegetarian, I rarely eat meat: black pudding has never been on the menu for me in the past. However, I do enjoy trying new foods, and I have to admit that I enjoyed the black pudding–as long as I didn’t think about it too much.
Trying new foods is one of the reasons the PTO International Fair (aka Spring Fair or Summerfest) is one of my favorite annual events at AAS. The PTO International Fair is scheduled for Saturday, June 17. In addition to being able to enjoy the foods of different cultures represented at AAS, there are exciting activities and plenty of social time.
Like all PTO events, the International Fair is not only an event for the AAS community, it is an event created by the AAS community. The PTO Board does a lot more than most people probably realize for community events, but they cannot do it all. I encourage you to enjoy all PTO events, but to also volunteer now and again to make the events possible.
The time from Spring Break to the end of the school year is a whirlwind of special events. There are 45 school days left until summer holiday, and those days are chock full of special occasions, including classroom parties, field trips, moving up ceremonies, graduation, and more. It is a time for fun and preparing for transitions.
With transitions in mind, today is the last day of classes for the seniors. In the coming weeks they have exams–good luck seniors!–graduation, etc. More will be written about the graduating class as graduation nears, but I would like to highlight something that the leadership of the seniors has played a significant role in. This year, the AAS STUCO (Student Council) took on the major task of redoing the STUCO Charter. The Charter establishes the structure, procedures, and most importantly the purpose of the STUCO. It is an important document, and as with all guiding documents there are many different opinions and strong feelings about what the document should and shouldn’t include. The STUCO is a student organization, and the Charter is a student created document (with some guidance from STUCO advisor, Mr. Negrete). I had the opportunity to be present during some of the STUCO Charter discussions, and I was incredibly impressed by what I witnessed. Students in grades 9 through 12 debated, disagreed, and argued their points. After a particularly intense (and productive) 5 hour session on a Saturday, I told the STUCO Board how impressed I was with what I had witnessed. It was democracy in action. Sometimes messy and emotional, but well worth it in the end. What the 2022-2023 AAS STUCO accomplished this year paves the way for a more productive STUCO future, which positively affects all AAS students. Well done STUCO!
“Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.”
– Desmond Tutu
