Every June, as the school year winds down, my middle school has an awards night. This is an evening to recognize students' achievement in each subject area, but it is about so much more than the awards. After this special evening was stolen by covid-19 in 2020, it was great having it back this year.
The evening opened with the students doing three of their LOL routines. Since most of their 'shows' this year have been of Zoom or you.tube, this chance to perform for their parents, siblings, and grandparents was a real treat. They performed their juggling routine to "It's a Ska Ska Ska Ska Ska World" including but Amber and Elana juggling clubs for the first time in a show of any sort. Amber also did machetes, as did Abbie. After this routine got things started, they did audience participation juggling, and it hasn't gone so well in years. Then they performed their newest skit, "The Good Nerd", a modern take on "The Good Samaritan". They brought the audience to many moments of laughter, and Maddie was perfect in the title role. Nathan also deserves a shout out for how he played the victim.
After a video that a group of students made as a Bible assignment earlier in the spring, awards began. Every academic area had a recipient. Then there were twp special awards. Tanner was named most improved and Maddie was named hardest working student. Each of these awards came with a gift card to Dairy Queen.
The highlight of these evenings is always when I give personalized gifts to each student. These are always designed around some inside jokes from the school year. Listing them all would be meaningless to most readers, but one example is Amber's gift. The class noticed that her smile is much like that of the Grinch. Before giving her her gift I told the back story, then apologized to her for teasing her about this. To remind her of what a beautiful girl she is, I gave her a mirrir, but when I turned it around to show the audience, I had pasted a picture of the Grinch on the glass! You get the idea.
The evening ended with a slide show that was put together by Emily and Amber, with pictures of so many events from our school year. And now summer vacation has begun!