QPS Assembly & Award

The girls' school has 1 or 2 school-wide assemblies towards the end of each term. This afternoon was the first assembly the school has held since prior to closing for covid19 safety measures. Parents are invited to attend, and everyone (600+ students and faculty/staff/parents) squishes into the school auditorium (which doubles as the gym).

Doug & I were excited to join, having no real idea what a school-wide assembly would entail. Our school in NYC never had such a thing, and if they did, parents weren't ever invited, so it was a new thing for us. We arrived just as things were kicking off and lucked out to snag the last two parent seats in the front row. We were seated in chairs with a sea of royal blue sweatshirts seated on the floor between us and the front stage.

The assembly started out with welcoming remarks from Matt Leach, one of the school's Deputy (Assistant) Principals. Everyone then stood to sing the New Zealand national anthem. We'd never heard the NZ national anthem before and I have to admit I got a bit choked up! It was a lovely melody and the words (up on the screen) were very deferential to nature and caring for others. Next up was the QPS school song. Half of it was in Maori language, so we had no idea really what they were saying, but a room full of hundreds of kiddos singing is bound to tug at the heartstrings :)

Everyone back seated, Matt the Deputy returned to the front of the hall. He started saying something along the lines of "I want to recognize two new students. They've come a long way to join us. All the way from New York! You'd never know they were new. They've done such a good job of integrating into the QPS community and finding new friends." Neither Doug nor I - nor the girls - had any idea this was going to happen! We put two & two together just as Matt was starting his speech, and I was able to fumble to get my video on and capture the moment as the girls walked up towards the stage to accept their award.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/61eb30_e71fc1fc055f4da0bb96e9b8c1c4839c/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

What a special moment! I was overwhelmed with pride at the girls & the external recognition that they've adjusted so well into the new QPS community. I was overwhelmed with gratitude for such a warm welcome and caring gesture. Seeing them seated up on the stage, in their sweet QPS sweatshirt uniforms, with a massive USA flag behind them, was a very special moment.

Such big, proud love for those two girls!!

Debriefing with the girls as we left school that afternoon, they both said they were super embarrassed at having to go up in front of the whole school. Sadie especially because they had to shake Matt's hand. But as they spoke, they had a hard time (especially Sadie) hiding a bit of excitement & pride at getting their award, as well.

Back at home the girls wrote in their journals before a fellow American family traveling the world came over for play & dinner <insert LINK>. Journal snapshots:

Even with Paige & Sadie's recognition aside, the assembly was a lovely school event. So nice to see such humanity, care and recognition of the school community - students and staff, alike. It felt really nice to be part of that. The icing on the cake, of course, was having the opportunity to see the girls be recognized in front of the whole school for the same reasons we have been so proud of them these past weeks. We left the assembly with our hearts full and grateful, yet again, for the opportunities we've been able to seize here in New Zealand.