We have reached the end of term!

We have reached the end of a school year!

But man, what a long end it was… the next few posts over the next few days chronicle just how truly long the end was…

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The last weekend before finals week kicked off with a bang: literally, Friday July 4th, my students from AP Chemistry set off the fireworks they’d been researching and constructing as their final project. We had one rocket, one fountain, and one star! The fountain was the most successful as had the chemicals they needed already in the chemical storeroom. Who knew we had Antimony Trisulfide and Sodium Oxalate? I didn’t…

The star was impressive in it’s own way, the launcher having been carefully welded to shoot a tennis-ball sized shell into the air that was supposed to explode at the arc of the parabola before coming down… the test run where we actually shot a tennis ball was very impressive. Three-foot green flames erupted from the top of the metal pipe as the tennis ball rocketed 200 yards into the sky! Alas, the shell didn’t do much when we shot our final firework, being a little too big for the chute and the fuse not REALLY setting off the explosive material inside.

Later that night I hosted my first caring community in months. Usually, these meet once a month all year, a small group of students with an adult or two hosting activities, games, and serving food while building relationships in a more casual setting. Since the juniors have been prepping for Banquet all year during this time (don’t worry- I’ll write the part 2 to that next and post it after this mini-series!), there wasn’t really a group that I was well established and connected to. As juniors, we kind of opted for a slightly different route, and the students signed themselves up for the activity they wanted to attend. At my house, I had about 8 students for “Paint mini-pictures, make mini-pizzas.” It was a chill group of all girls with the bonus of one of their boyfriends along for the ride (though to be honest, he also likes to paint and eat pizza).

I was tired already when they left, but in an uncharacteristic act of self-discipline, I totally finished cleaning up, washing dishes, putting away paints, all of it. The kitchen was immaculate. I fell into bed, remembering at the last second to set my alarm for 3:40am the next day. Why? In RVA tradition, the junior students (my wards) are obligated to perform some kind of prank in order to “delay” the seniors as they leave off for their Senior trip to the coast…

Come back tomorrow for the regaling of our morning prank!!!