Well, it's that time of year again - less than a week before school starts. And so, this means that it's also time for the annual pre-school Marymount barbecue. It is an occasion where the girls get to pick up their schedules, talk with teachers in an informal setting, and enthusiastically talk to their friends. The staff of the school flip burgers, hand out drinks, and generally, reacquaint themselves with new and former students. In fact, it's a very loud - happy - huggy - few hours of madness for the girls and bewilderment for the parents. This is my 6th barbecue and it still amazes me how the girls are so glad to see each other - even if it's only been a few days!
Today, Wednesday August 30th, Jennifer, Meghan, and I headed to Marymount for about 11:30am. I never get a parking spot in the parking lot - always on the street - way down the street - I think every girl that goes to the school must go to the barbecue! As usual, Jennifer saw some friends and headed off with them. Meghan and I headed in to the building to find out where to pick up the Grade 7 schedules.
Meghan and I braved the crowds to find some of her teachers at the far end of the cafeteria. We met a couple of her teachers (they seemed nice enough) and picked up her schedule. It looks like a typical high school schedule, but she's still only in elementary school. No spares! She then headed off to find her friends and Jennifer's friends. Britney, Meghan's best friend, is in her home room and in all the same classes! Thank goodness for that - Meghan says she would have died if they hadn't been in the same class. As well, Emily Herbert (Corrie's friend Al's daughter) whom she's known for about 4 years and went to a different school is in her class - nice surprise! And, one of the girls from Enrichment, Mariah, is also in her class - someone else that she gets along with. All in all - Meghan had a good time!
Jennifer picked up her schedule and her grades. She didn't bother to pick up her report card at the end of the school year - or I didn't drive her in to pick it up - I can't remember which. Her grades dropped from her mid-term marks, but she still did okay. She plans to do much better this year! Jen's schedule was a little more interesting than Meghan's! Jen has Anatomy first thing in the morning and then Biology right after that. She'll be scienced-out by lunch and ready for Music which is right after lunch. Her last class of the day is a "spare". Now that she's in grade 12 - a senior - she can have a spare. It looks like this semester will be a tough morning, but a good afternoon. I hope this means that she will actually complete her correspondence physics course this semester! On the social side, many of Jen's friends were at the barbecue, so she was busy comparing schedules and getting caught up with gossip. She chatted with all her favourite teachers including Mr. Van, Mr. Russell, Miss Simpson, Mr. Beaton, and Miss Massimiliano - to name a few. She's behind me giving more names, but I think this is more than enough - you'll get the picture.
The most important thing about being in grade 12 at Marymount Academy is "the gallery". This is a hallway which overlooks the gym and cafeteria, and is exclusively for the grade 12 girls! It is like their special domain - they get to look down on the rest of the girls and laugh, and remember how it used to be when they first started at the school.
