Appreciation Day

Last Friday, the day at Colegio Carpe Diem ended with a few scenes that I have never seen in nine years of teaching in US schools. And I think if I teach for ninety more years, I will never see what I saw last Friday. The students were cleaning the school! And I don't mean grudgingly scrubbing the desks in detention. They had mops, brooms and scrub brushes. There were 5th graders sweeping up their classroom. A band of 8th grade girls took over the teacher's lounge, cleaning everything including my coffee mug. But real scene was the high school boys happily mopping the bathroom. It was all part of support staff appreciation day. The kids were cleaning to give the janitorial staff the day off.
The day started with a thank you breakfast in the teacher's lounge. One person brought in table clothes, another a crate full of china, someone else a grill to toast mini sandwiches and so on. My host teacher, Hugo, whipped up some dips and spreads. I knew something special was afoot when the Nestle cappuccino packets replaced the usual tin of powdered coffee.
After breakfast and the first block of classes the festivities moved to the gymnasium. The bleachers were full of students and twenty chairs were set up is front. After everyone was seated the twenty support staffers were lead in by the head master. Cheers and whoops filled the gym. The kids genuinely are quite fond of the janitors, librarian, secretaries, kindergarten helpers and other support folks. As seems to be the way to celebrate everything, each class had prepared a special dance or song for the support Tias and Tios. For their part the support Tios and Tias had shed their usual school fleece jackets for nice clothes.
The presentations were sweet and the appreciation seemed heartfelt so when the performances were over I thought I'd seen the end of support staff appreciation day. Not so! The students returned to classes and at the end of the day the cleaning began. I never did get clear whether this is how all schools celebrate their support staff or is this just Colegio Carpe Diem's way. I do know that it is a recognition across the country. I also know that next Friday is teacher appreciation day and I am going to make sure I am in school for that!
Stay tuned for: Berto's birthday party or Mike and Lisa learn something new about life in Castro.