It's Festival Time Again!

Not my town's festival, or anything to do with the boys, no, this is my school's festival.

My students' school year revolves around certain events, the biggest, by far, is the culture festival that takes place at the tail end of September, or the beginning of October, every year. It's two days of the kids showing off, well... showing off. The school is opened to the public (I.e. the parents and a few city worthies that got roped into showing up) and the up-coming 7th graders who get to wander in from their 6th grade classes to see what they'll be doing next year.

All joking aside, it is an amazing event. Each of my students participates in some aspect of the festival, many in multiple. They show off their artwork, they show off their clubs, their sports, their class projects and trips. They show off their school work, they preform various stage shows ranging from my group's rendition of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, to the dance club's hip hop. They compete in an all school chorus contest that is judged by a professional voice trainer, they compete in an all school sports event (Mainly races, though they also enjoy jump rope), and best of all, they set up everything themselves.

While we teachers help, it's the kids who plan the events, set the stage, run the lights, the sound, and what not. They do the whole program, dividing up multiple jobs among the students so, again, everyone has something to do, but they also have a chance to shine and enjoy the festival.

It's also stressful as all heck with the day before dedicated to set-up so the school is filled with students running everywhere in a panic trying to get everything set up on time and where things are supposed to be. I admit, it's a little worrying to see them attempt to assemble an arch above the school gate (The Keystone Cops comes to mind).

But... it will be a fun time and once it's all finished and we teachers see our now exhausted students out the door to the arms of their families... We get to go out and drink that we survived another year.

In that at least, it does have something to do with the other festival.