Exams, A Parade, & Guitars

My apologies for not posting another entry last month (March).  Not enough happened in the community to warrant a full post before the end of the month.  I blog; not micro-blog.  I guess situations like these are bound to happen.  Regardless, I have enough material now to catch you all up to speed.

High school midterm exams occurred in the middle of March.  Nine exams were administered over three days; two of them were mine.  Both of my exams were for Social Studies.  The Grade 10 exam focused on economic globalization and the Grade 11 exam focused on nationalism.  My Grade 10 guitarists had a performance test before midterms. 

I added the exam marks & performance tests to the students’ report cards and calculated a percentage grade.  I then wrote comments for each student; about a paragraph each.  I was glad everything was submitted before the deadline.

March 31 was a special day for long time resident nurse Gail.  She decided to retire from the profession after practicing for 34 years in the community.  The community organized an afternoon parade of vehicles in her honour.

The school was notified in advance of the planned parade.  Students & teachers made Thank You posters.  When the day arrived, everyone lined up along the street behind the school and waited.  I had a GoPro camera at the ready to take pictures and video.

A firetruck and RCMP truck led the parade.  Both vehicles blared their sirens to let everyone know the procession was in motion.  Nurse Gail was in the third vehicle, a red pickup truck decorated with balloons and a large Happy Retirement sign on the front bumper.  She and her co-workers tossed candy to the kids.  Several people shouted, “Thank you Gail!” as she passed by.  The drivers of the vehicles that followed honked their horns and waved at the children.  I’m not sure how many vehicles participated, but it had to be around 20.  There were even some skidoos and atvs. 

It took about 7 minutes for the parade to pass the school.  I got it all on video. 

Thank you, Gail, for your hard work, dedication, and service to the community of Arctic Bay.

I received a shipment of new guitars and music stands from Long & McQuade in early April.  Four of the guitars were ¾ size.  They would be used by middle school students who are smaller in size.  The school provided the funding.  If the opportunity presents itself, I may buy four more.