PHS Graduation

Here are a few pictures from last night’s graduation ceremony. The class of 2009 was Pristhina High School’s first. Six young men and one young lady. After congratulatory speeches from three guests of honor, John Chesnut gave the main commencement address. His message was built around “six words” – Dream Big. Work Hard. Honor God. Six words that work for us all, really.

Our seniors flipped their tassels and left the ceremony while “Who Let the Dogs Out” played on the sound system. Hugs, photos, smiles, hugs...then we all gathered back inside the hall for appetizers, music and dancing. Some danced more than others, and some (Xhim) did not dance at all.

When your graduating class numbers seven, you have a pretty good connection with each of them. I taught them all this year and got to know them fairly well, and because of this I find myself wanting to stay in touch with them and keep up with their college endeavors…I hope I can follow through on this aim. God’s speed to each of you. Thanks for your brief part in my life – it was a pleasure. No homework tonight.

So Mel and I are sitting on the patio of the HIB restaurant which is attached to the HIB gas station. Kenny Rogers is singing Lady on the radio. Boy that song has legs. Anyway, Joe Biden is why we're here. His caravan has traffic snarled and we can't get to the grocery store. He's making a 3-day tour through the Balkans to heal hundreds of years of ethnic turmoil. "You guys (Serbs, Bosnians, Kosovars, Croats) better find a way to heal past wounds or there will be more violence," Joe said (Gary paraphrased). Well thanks Joe for that new spin on things, now can I get to my eggs and paper towels? He also said that the US considers Kosova's independence to be "absolutely irreversible" which was a huge comfort to the Kosovars.

They do roll out the red carpet for high American officials. Kosovar Albanians are sincerely thankful for our friendship and support. I hope you saw our little country in the news and thought of us. Biden was within a few miles of our school. I tried to get him to come do some integration with me and my Precalculus class, but...well...he didn't bring his TI-83 calculator with him.

Old Man's Got Game (sort of)

We just finished a 3 on 3 basketball tournament at school. We would get 2 - 3 games completed at lunchtime, and after about three weeks there were two teams left standing. I happened to get picked up by the team that eventually won. I poured in 3 of our 17 baskets…my contributions were defensive, synergistic, intangible. My footwork was comparable to that of a young athlete half my age. It didn’t hurt that the best player in the school was on my team.

I really used the tournament as a platform to advertise mathematics.

First Graduates

We have about 5 weeks of school left. Our seniors only have about 7 classes left – they are almost free. They are a good group, two Americans and five Albanians, 6 boys and 1 girl. All are heading to college except for one who has chosen the Armed Forces in the US. I’ve had the pleasure of teaching them all this year and can’t wait to hear about their future endeavors.

Kosova was accepted into the European Evangelical Alliance last month. Several countries (some that have not accepted Kosova’s independence) were able to put politics aside and unanimously vote in favor of welcoming Kosova into this group whose desire, “is to serve the region by making Christ known and extending His kingdom both nationally and internationally.” Members hope, “…to help one another to be contemporary Christian communities which both transform and redeem our wider communities.” Our friends John and Ruth were honored to attend the annual meeting in Spain and witness Kosova’s induction.

It's nice to know that our school is advertised as a "gift" from Christians in America. We have several new teachers that have signed up to teach at Prishtina High School next year. Please pray for Maggie, Cindy, Anne, Sarah and McClain as they prepare to come to Kosova. Also continue to pray for more teachers to come. We especially need Science teachers.