Reassurance at its Finest

i feel very happy with how this week has gone.

betsy, penny, and patrice came to maple tree on tuesday for a site visit and meeting with myself and my two site supervisors. i was a little anxious at first for several reasons. first, they were coming to maple tree after visiting another school, and i wasn't sure how i would compare. would they share my disappointment in the lack of feedback from parent and staff surveys that i distributed? would they share my enthusiasm for my ideas?

i was so relieved to hear the kind words that maple tree's principal shared with the group. i was also told that given my circumstances, i've made a good amount of progress and should keep going in this direction. i was also reminded not to compare myself to other VISTAs and/or sites. it was exactly the encouragement i needed to press on with my ATP.

maple tree's principal sent me an email right before dismissal on tuesday to ask me if i could attend a meeting about school attendance for her the next morning, which i agreed to do. the meeting was pretty informative, though definitely pertained more to high schools and other large schools in the district. patrice happened to be at the meeting, too, which was kind of funny. i was given a date for ATP training for our cluster, which i was glad to have information on. we're scheduled for November 30th. i am pushing for the group to meet once beforehand, though, so we can have a solid group that fully understands the goals of the action team and what their role(s) will be.

after the meeting, i drove over to maple tree for a surprise good-bye party for two staff members that are transferring to different schools in the district. i made a couscous salad the night before and was looking forward to seeing how people liked it. of course, only three people tried it! i'm planning to bring the leftovers to parents plus tomorrow, especially because cara said she would try some. i also met with the principal to discuss updating my VAD (VISTA activity description) for the school. we agreed that all that we needed to change were a couple of minor things.

today was the Americorps Opening Ceremony in Green Lake. though it was optional for the Parents Plus VISTAs, i decided to go because my school was closed for conventions. i met some great people doing some wonderful projects in Wisconsin, which made me proud to be a member of the Americorps community. the drive to and from Green Lake was great, too: me, cara, mark, and lizzy...

i finally got a new camera, so i'm going to post some pictures of things soon!