We are counting down to the end of the 2020-2021 school year, and it is a particularly bittersweet time for our 8th grade students as they prepare to graduate. To help celebrate and recognize our ILS Class of 2021, we are again launching our “Meet Us Monday” blog series to introduce you to the members of this year’s graduating class.
Each week, we will be sharing interviews that we have done with each of our 8th grade students, in which they share more about their favorite ILS memories and traditions, words of wisdom they’ve received over the years, and other reflections from their years here with us at ILS. We hope that you will enjoy these reflections, and join with us in congratulating and celebrating these students!
Meet Us Monday: Grace J., ILS Class of 2021
1. How long have you attended ILS?
“This is my third year. They’ve been full of many interesting opportunities and ups and downs. The community of ILS is really helpful. ”
2. To what house do you belong, and how have you developed as a person by being involved in it?
“I belong to the best house, Athanasius. We have mixed grades in each house – I get to see everyone’s perspective on the house, because I’ve been their age and had their perspective before. Houses open the door to more community because you interact with people in different grades – like, I have a friend in 6th grade. Houses also bring healthy competition to the school. You have to use many different attributes of yourself – competitions can be about athletics, art, or academics – each person in the house has a specialty that is needed at various times. I’m part of the athletic crew of my house but we all work on each competition. Each person’s passions and gifts are needed in their house.
At house meetings, we always have food – brownies with green frosting are a tradition – we use that just to have fun together but also to help bribe younger students to work hard. It’s also nice that in our house if you’re a younger member, you can ask any older Athanasius person to help you with homework or whatever you need, and we will. Last year in an ultimate frisbee competition, our whole house cheered for each other and hyped each other up even if we weren’t competing at that moment. That kind of support is awesome. ”
3. What was your favorite House competition?
“Last year we did a competition in which we made our own cheer. I was in charge of that! It was a lot of fun. One of the most memorable competitions was from my 6th grade year – we had a literary dress up day – and our whole house coordinated to dress up as Dr. Seuss characters. Our house won that year! Scatterball competitions are always fun, and it’s definitely a classic ILS game, but we haven’t played that so far this year. ”
4. What is your favorite ILS memory? (Or, which ILS tradition will you remember the most?)
“The tradition I’ll remember the most is Lutheran Schools Week, which is like a week-long marathon of house competitions. Another memorable tradition is Ides of March; usually on a Friday, our Latin teacher Mr. Barnett lets us wear togas to school. We re-enact the scene from Shakespeare in which Julius Caesar is betrayed and killed. There is a lot of fake blood involved. We also do speeches – some students are chosen to orate to persuade students to vote for the republic. Winners are chosen by how loud the applause is for each candidate. Chariot races also actually happen on the blacktop – some parents made chariots for us that we actually raced. Two people pull the chariots and one person rides in the chariot in the arena (the blacktop) for two laps. Everyone will know why I say this: respect to Grace Hardy.
One of my favorite memories is from one of the millionth times Miss Davis let me, Rory, and Ione go get coffee. We’ve always done that together since 6th grade. Usually we see lots of treats in the teachers’ office area. This year, I saw a pile of gooey brownies. So, I started the coffee. While it was brewing, I decided to sneak a brownie, just when Miss Fickenscher walked by. I just panicked and stuffed the brownie in my mouth. THEN, Miss Fickenscher kept talking to us and I kept nodding and making noises because I couldn’t answer. ”
5. What subject have you studied that has most inspired you, and how? What subject have you studied that most challenged you to grow or change?
“I really enjoy history and science. I was never a big fan of science before, but this year has been different. As I think about my life paths, I realize I might be interested in medicine, and of course science is a big part of that. It’s a cool thing to study how the physical world works and makes me hungry to continue learning more.
My most challenging class would be Latin, actually probably more English and literature. Coming from a different schooling system, I was kind of shocked about what we were learning when I got here. Lots of people I know didn’t learn the way we do until high school or later. And it’s not just the books in literature that are harder, because we read classics, it’s the way we set up classes and talk about everything. All that we’ve been doing is quite interesting but also quite tough – I never knew the rules of grammar before or how to cite resources. It not only helps me write better, but it even helps with my speech. Understanding English is not easy, even though it’s the language I speak. Miss Davis doesn’t push us past what we can do, but it is challenges and she does push us to be better.”
6. Where have you applied to High School?
“I have applied to Immanuel Christian High School, and Bishop Ireton. I got accepted into both but am already enrolled at ICHS now. A fair amount of my friends are going into BI, so it’s sad to think about not going there, but I think ICHS is the best fit for me. They have really cool opportunities. They have small groups that meet all the time and talk about what’s happening in their lives, pray for each other, get Starbucks. When you start the school year at ICHS, you also all go to a retreat to get to know everyone. We also will have the opportunity to go to another country each winter. My freshman year I get to go to Italy, sophomores go to Israel, juniors go to the UK, and seniors do a missions trip to Rwanda. I think that the whole school goes. I’m looking forward to all of it.”
7. What will you miss the most about ILS?
“I’ll miss my friends and will miss all the Immanuel traditions. This sounds cheesy, but I’m going to miss you, Ms. Kramer. I’m going to miss the books we read and the kind of education we get here. ”
8. How has a teacher impacted your life personally in a way you will never forget?
“I think that’s you, Ms. Kramer. We talked through tons and tons of things. You helped me remember that I’m enough. No matter what anybody else does or says about me, I still choose what I do. If someone says hurtful words to me, I shouldn’t let that tell me who I am. When people are unkind, it says more about who they are than me. I have to be myself – my identity is different from what people say about. ”