The Really Hard Part! #1
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard!" Winnie the Pooh
Lucky, blessed, privileged, humbled, loved, scared. These are just a few of the emotions that I felt during my last week and a half in Nova Scotia. I returned from Africa (more on that later!) on the 23rd of August; we had to be out of the house on the 25th, so we checked into a hotel for 4 days. Our Real Estate agent, Julie Ricketts, was an angel and took the dogs for us until we were ready to hit the road. And so we began the process of leaving. The place meant very little; the people meant everything.
Let's backtrack to 2011. The last year that Ancient History 10 was taught at Prince Andrew High School. It was my favourite course to teach, and i was more than upset that it was being displaced by political correctness and more Math! Anyway, I had 65 students in two classes. My first impression was that these kids were going to fun! As the time progressed, I was proven more than right.
A group from this bunch became much more than students to me over the next 3 years. They became "McLeod's Minions". The term came about when Brandon Finyanos, (Point and Shoot Finny), my yearbook photographer, met up with a snarky girl in the hallway who asked, "So, are you McLeod's bitch?". He just laughed and came and told me. My response, "BITCH? Please! I prefer the term Minion!". And so it began.
Allyssa, Josh, Luke, Jack, Tristan, Grace, Gabby, Reeves, Finny, Conlon, Lachlan, Doyle, Darcy, Tor, Livy, Rachel, Cassie and Paige! The core group. There were many more, but these were the heart of the gang. I taught some of the Minions 6 times over 3 years; we shared lunch hours watching 80s movies and listening to music; laughing hysterically over Cards Against Humanity, listening to their tales of woe, and being there for them when they truly needed someone to talk to. In short, we became a family. I took many of them on a school trip to Italy where I watched them stand in awe as the classroom lessons appeared before their eyes. I took a group to Washington, DC as part of a Holocaust Education program and watched Josh Denton, point to his Great Grandmother's name on the list of the Righteous Among the Nations. I didn't know until then. They supported me when I was down, and validated that was I was doing was important. When teaching became a burden, they made me remember why I was in the classroom and brought back the joy.
They graduated in 2015. Josh was Valedictorian. Allyssa took home the $3000.00 Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Scholarship and the $23,000.00 Terry Fox Humanitarian Award. I was so proud of all of them. University proved to be challenging for some; some changed their course, but that is life. They are all finding their ways in this crazy world.
We are still close. And that is where the hard part comes in. Before I left for Africa, Conlon ( now taking Tourism at NSCC and bartending), Reeves (attending U. of Ottawa and working with the Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative), Finny (Criminology at St Mary's and in the Reserves) and Allyssa (Political Science and History at Dalhousie, working with the Romeo Dallaire Foundation and volunteering at the local Veterans' Hospital) decided to take me out on the town. Drinks at the Prince George and then off to The Press Gang, one of Halifax's premier and historical restaurants. What a fun time we had! All I could think about was how very lucky I was to have been given the gift of these young people and had the chance to learn a much from them as they did from me. And, now, here they were, young adults, taking their old teacher out on the town! Wow!
This was but the first of several hard Goodbyes. I knew I would see Reeves and Allyssa again, but it was Hasta Luego to Finny and Conlon! Thank God for FB and future plans for visits!
To be continued.....
Lucky, blessed, privileged, humbled, loved, scared. These are just a few of the emotions that I felt during my last week and a half in Nova Scotia. I returned from Africa (more on that later!) on the 23rd of August; we had to be out of the house on the 25th, so we checked into a hotel for 4 days. Our Real Estate agent, Julie Ricketts, was an angel and took the dogs for us until we were ready to hit the road. And so we began the process of leaving. The place meant very little; the people meant everything.
Let's backtrack to 2011. The last year that Ancient History 10 was taught at Prince Andrew High School. It was my favourite course to teach, and i was more than upset that it was being displaced by political correctness and more Math! Anyway, I had 65 students in two classes. My first impression was that these kids were going to fun! As the time progressed, I was proven more than right.
A group from this bunch became much more than students to me over the next 3 years. They became "McLeod's Minions". The term came about when Brandon Finyanos, (Point and Shoot Finny), my yearbook photographer, met up with a snarky girl in the hallway who asked, "So, are you McLeod's bitch?". He just laughed and came and told me. My response, "BITCH? Please! I prefer the term Minion!". And so it began.
Allyssa, Josh, Luke, Jack, Tristan, Grace, Gabby, Reeves, Finny, Conlon, Lachlan, Doyle, Darcy, Tor, Livy, Rachel, Cassie and Paige! The core group. There were many more, but these were the heart of the gang. I taught some of the Minions 6 times over 3 years; we shared lunch hours watching 80s movies and listening to music; laughing hysterically over Cards Against Humanity, listening to their tales of woe, and being there for them when they truly needed someone to talk to. In short, we became a family. I took many of them on a school trip to Italy where I watched them stand in awe as the classroom lessons appeared before their eyes. I took a group to Washington, DC as part of a Holocaust Education program and watched Josh Denton, point to his Great Grandmother's name on the list of the Righteous Among the Nations. I didn't know until then. They supported me when I was down, and validated that was I was doing was important. When teaching became a burden, they made me remember why I was in the classroom and brought back the joy.
They graduated in 2015. Josh was Valedictorian. Allyssa took home the $3000.00 Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Scholarship and the $23,000.00 Terry Fox Humanitarian Award. I was so proud of all of them. University proved to be challenging for some; some changed their course, but that is life. They are all finding their ways in this crazy world.
This was but the first of several hard Goodbyes. I knew I would see Reeves and Allyssa again, but it was Hasta Luego to Finny and Conlon! Thank God for FB and future plans for visits!
To be continued.....
My new favorite game, how many times can we butcher Conlon's name
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