It's been a jam-packed week here in Houston. I had Tom come to visit me over last weekend and into this week, which was simply wonderful. I have been really missing home and PC, and he is the perfect combination of those two things. We went to an Astros game, a Dynamo game, saw the Houston Art Car Parade, and ate some delicious food over the course of a few days. I loved having him meet my community members and students, and as sad as I was to see him go, it made me all the more excited to return to Philadelphia come August.
A screenshot from Snapchat... Go Astros! Below are a bunch of different cars from the Art Car parade... such a fun event!
Tom came to visit me at school!
Again, it was so great to have him here. Saying goodbye was really hard, but as the school year comes to an end, I am happy to stay present to my students. I cannot believe that this is my last week of teaching!
On Friday afternoon, we had a lovely event at school: a "fireside chat." In our beautiful faculty lounge, we sat on comfy couches and enjoyed snacks and drinks and just shared stories about students. It was complete with candles and a videoscreen of a real roaring fire, and another video screen of Andrew, a faculty member who left us in the middle of the year but has been an integral part of CRJ since the first year.
I heard so many stories about the very beginnings of the school, and how far its come. It's been a real transformation for sure, both of the facility and the people who have been a part of it. I heard about students who are no longer with us, the original phone system (it was just a cordless phone that the receptionist had to run down a hallway), and funny stories about the soon to be graduating. I was so proud to be a part of such an incredible community, and I started to get sad: it dawned on me that while I'll be in Houston for two more months, I will have to say goodbye to most of my students and many coworkers within the next two weeks. I'll miss them greatly, and I'm not sure how to communicate to them how much they have impacted my life.
Saturday morning, after some delicious breakfast tacos (seriously, my favorite food group is breakfast taco), I found myself helping out at CRJ. It was Saturday Academy- a time for students who are missing work to come to school and get it done. There were so many students who came to school that I found myself with a whole computer lab full of them, and I was in charge of making sure that they weren't chatting and were staying on task. I had come in so that I could help out my students who hadn't finished their research papers... and didn't anticipate how much more work was ahead of me. I was frustrated and slightly overwhelmed, but as I was trying to quiet down a particularly boisterous trio of students, I remembered something that Andrew said at our fireside chat the day before.
The word "sacrifice" literally means to make something holy. All of us who are a part of CRJ- students, faculty, staff, parents, volunteers- sacrifice so much in order to make CRJ work. Our work is holy work.
This was a year of sacrifice for me: I'm away from my family, boyfriend, and friends, I am working extremely hard for not a lot of monetary compensation, and I'm always hot. It is a holy year. As a JV, I am recognizing CRJ as a holy place, something that has given me more than I could ever give to it. So yes, my Saturday morning was sacrificed, but I made it holy by spending time at school.
I'm taking this idea of my holy year with me for the next two months. It's just what I need in order to keep my attitude up about being here. Here's to the final push!
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