Yearly Archives: 2009

Brittany had her final middle school Conference Cross Country meet today at DuPage River Park.  There were 20+ schools there competing and she ran her race in just over 16 minutes.  That’s a personal best for her and she is getting better and better.  It was a beautiful day for the race and the course was very nice too.  They got to run in and around a forest of trees on a nice path as well as down some much looked-forward-to hills.  🙂  The 7th grade girls took second for their grade and that won the school a banner to put up in the gym.  Everyone was very excited!

I think Brittany is excited that Cross Country is over now.  She didn’t have as wonderful of a year as she would have liked, due to her foot problem, but this has helped her stay in shape for track in the spring.  I think she enjoys track better as well.

Great season Brittany!  You go girl!  🙂

Tonight Sarah and the other members of the Inaugural Metea Valley Marching Mustangs marching band were honored with a banquet at the school.  We had a great dinner of pasta and Italian beef as well as desserts.  I guess it was a nice date for us considering it’s our Engagement Anniversary today!  🙂

We watched a video montage of the marching season and the directors gave some great praises to the band members.  The kids reflected on the year some through skits and funny experiences (you really had to be there for them… we had no idea what they were talking about).  🙂  Sarah was honored as a marching leader with a leadership certificate as well.

It was a GREAT season for them all and they really accomplished a LOT, considering the fact that a large portion of the band are freshmen and the rest are sophomores.  They are great now, but just think what they will be like when they are seniors and juniors and they have all 4 grades attending.  As part of the program, they also called up all the students individually, congratulated them, and gave them a 5×7 picture of the band (below).  It’s funny to see how the entire marching band can fit in the hallway at the school!  🙂

Sarah is on the front row first flute on the right.  We are so proud of Sarah and her accomplishments!  She has been a great leader (reaffirmed by her band directors) and has really grown in this area at school.  Keep up the GREAT work, Sarah!

Today was a VERY busy day!  Brittany had a cross country meet after school today at Waubonsie High School.  It was for all of the middle schools in the district.  It was very cold (down into the low 40s), but she had her best meet so far this year!  She came in 17th of about 50-60 8th grade girls.  Maybe she runs better when it’s cold outside!  She received a ribbon for her efforts!  🙂  Angela, Kirstyn, and Benjamin went to see her run and cheered her on as she ran in the cold!  🙂  Overall, Still Middle School did GREAT!  The 7th graders, as usual, took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.  For the 8th graders, Brittany’s friend came in 2nd.

While Brittany was running, Zachary and I went to support Sarah in her final marching band performance at the high school.  Zach and I had layers of jackets and blankets to keep us warm, and we enjoyed the pre-game and halftime shows!  The football team won also which made it great as well!  The starting Quarterback and Sarah’s friend from Seminary got hurt pretty bad during the 3rd quarter and had to come out so that was bad, but overall things went well.  The band sounded GREAT!  They were sad afterward that they were finished and some were in tears.  They have become quite the tight-knit group over the past couple of months!

Great job girls!  You guys are the best!

Brittany had a good run today in the Aurora “City of Lights” tournament with multiple school districts participating.  They ran all the 7th and 8th grade girls together.  Still Middle School’s 7th grade girls took 1st, 2nd, and 4th overall and beat everyone by a huge margin.  Brittany came in 57th of 230 runners.  She felt much better than she did yesterday during her meet where she was sick to her stomach before even running.

Brittany with some of her cross country teammates/friends.

Sarah is very glad to be done with her day today!  They had a tough debate today in English where they had to argue whether or not Huck Finn by Mark Twain should be banned from schools or not.  She was assigned to be an attorney to argue that the book should be banned.  The judges there were a couple members of the community, a member of the school board, and the principal from Neuqua High School.  Unfortunately, their side lost (as did all the debates arguing against Huck Finn).  It was a tough argument, but they had a good time doing it.

Sarah also auditioned today for IMEA (Illinois Music Educator’s Association) participation.  She said she played her flute selections pretty well and so now we just wait and see if she made it.  It’s a VERY tough competition.  Brittany made it as a member of Honors Chorus, but unfortunately, she didn’t make it with her violin.  Maybe next year.  The main reason they audition is for experience.

Today the high school had it’s official dedication ceremony.  I went with Sarah, Kirstyn, and Zachary.  They left the decorations up from the dance last night and that added a nice touch!  The gym was filled and the program was very nice.  The auditorium is not quite finished yet so the gym had to do.  They had musical selections and remarks from many community and district leaders such as the Mayor of Aurora, the School Board President, the District Superintendent, and the Architects of the school.  The principal did a wonderful job conducting and presiding at the ceremony.  We knew all three groups that accepted the building on behalf of the PTSA, the Music Boosters, and the Athletic Boosters!

Principal Jim Schmid at the Metea Valley High School Dedication Ceremony.

After the ceremony, we had cookies and punch and then Sarah gave Kirstyn and Zachary a tour.  They went and saw all her classes and we had some great conversations with some of the teachers and parents we knew that were there.

We are VERY excited to be a part of this new high school opening.  Despite all of Sarah’s initial concerns, she is extremely excited to be a part of the Metea Valley High School Mustang community and loves going to school there!

We finally got the Still Middle School Cross Country Team picture and here it is!

The team is much smaller than it was last year due to the fact that Still was split into two middle schools with the high school and boundary changes.  Many of her friends from last year are now at the new middle school.  The 8th grade boys team this year only has 1 runner!  😐