opening day 2011

This year, the first day of school was truly a celebration. Our move to the new building was a success, and after months of hard work we were ready to open the doors to the students. Here's a bit of the fun we experienced this year on opening day.

Every school year at BFA begins with a huge opening ceremony. Seniors carry flags from all around the world, charges are read to staff and students, and the Roll Call of the Nations is read. This year BFA represents 53 countries from around the world. Check it out.

We also enjoyed the traditional interviewing of the first grade class. When these kids grow up, they want to be (from left to right) a horseback rider, a horseback rider, a horseback rider, a pilot, a horseback rider, a pilot, and a horseback rider.

Director Phil Peters gave a message in which he compared our year at BFA to a canoe trip, full of excitement and adventure, hard work and pain, rough and smooth times.

Cue "Pirates of the Caribbean" soundtrack

From there the middle schoolers boarded a bus to Sitzenkirch, where we teachers anxiously awaited their arrival! We took off before the bus left so we could be waiting for them at the school. The mayor of Sitzenkirch gave a brief history of the town and Phil Peters gave the middle schoolers a little history of the school itself. BFA has used this building for about 20 years now - it was a high school, then an elementary school, and now a middle school. I teach in the room where Phil Peters attended first grade! Then we cut the ribbon and the students got to enter the building for the first time.

Here they come!

Greeting old friends and meeting new ones

Party time



There's a ribbon down there somewhere...

From there, students were placed on teams and sent on a scavenger hunt We designed the hunt to help them navigate the new building, meet their teachers, and get to know the new students. Meanwhile, parents sipped coffee and explored the new classrooms at their leisure. After lunch we sent the parents home and entered the gym for our first official middle school assembly. Students went through a mock schedule to find their classes, and then it was time to go home!

Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support that has enabled me to be here serving these awesome students. Here's to a great year full of growth, laughter, and God's grace.