Fruition

Today was the last day of the conference -- and reality is setting in that I will be teaching the finer points of MLA formatting of works cited tomorrow with my friendly neighborhood librarian.  It's tough to move from an attitude of total creativity to something so formatted and precise!  

As predicted, the kids at the conference bonded last evening.  Immediately after the "celebration luncheon," groups started to head out to their buses and vans.

But not before Omar stood under the palm trees like a Disney character, with a line of girls waiting to take selfies with him before they left. 

Before you think they'll never see each other again, rest assured that there's a soccer tournament in Lancaster in a few weeks, and the girls are competing.  So we'll see how successful the Casanovas from Donegal are at maintaining long distance relationships.   

Fruition.

 
As mentioned yesterday, the more competitive colleges are starting to identify their classes of 2019 with acceptance letters -- or, in many more cases, emails.  Today was no exception.  Donegal has been blessed this year with a College Adviser named Brady Roberts,  who has been working full time to coach and encourage students to apply to many more reach schools than are usually attempted, and the last few weeks have been a flurry of activity.

It seems like only yesterday that these kids were in my room during Tribe Time writing Common App. essays, and reviewing them with a fine toothed comb, or two, or three. 

An early morning facebook post revealed that the coveted email had come, for one very excited young lady, from William and Mary.  She'd already heard from Pitt and Villanova, but her heart has been calling her to Williamsburg.  An acceptance at William and Mary is no small accomplishment -- I don't recall anyone from Donegal ever attending there.

AND THEN, a text.  A second student from Donegal had been accepted at, you guessed it, William and Mary!  She apologized for texting me the news from a classroom.  You'd better believe I forgave the indiscretion!

I am amazed, every day, by the kids with whom I work.  Sometimes it takes a couple of days away to see them in a different light, with a different group of kids, to truly appreciate the heart they have for people, and each other.  I hope that teachers all over the country are feeling the vicarious excitement of the kids in their schools coming home from a conference with new ideas to implement in their schools, or working with young whipper-snappers like Brady who have secret skills and connections to make magical connections between students and colleges that will provide the perfect nurturing environment to help them grow and change the world.  

I pray that every single teacher can identify a team of kids as wonderful as Cayden, Josh, Andrew, Kobe, Omar, Madison, Joanna, Seneca, Brittany, and Rheeana who not only formed great teams, but strengthened their friendships and plan to improve their school, after 48 hours in State College.

Meanwhile, I'll just hold on to the energy and goodness that I am privileged to see in my world, and dream about it for a long time tonight as I sleep in my very own bed.