YWAC

Young Writers and Artists Conference was today, finally. Students signed up for individual classes mid-January and have waited until now to attend them. It's one of our favorite field trips... kids pick from a list which three classes to attend, all focusing on various art, theater, and writing topics. The day of the trip they get to walk around Bethany's campus, attending their classes just like real college students. They have to figure out which room and building to go to and find their way back to the gym for lunch. 

We always have plenty of chaperones attending. Today's all clumped together for the main speaker. Normally not too much of a problem, but this year's kiddos tend to react when in small spaces. And all the instigators clumped together. I should've sorted them out as soon as I noticed, but I'm all about giving people second chances. How else can they rise to the occasion? Unfortunately, they did not do well together. 

Short version: an 8th grader leaned against a 6th grader. He couldn't move his feet and one of them poked a 6th grade girl in the back. She asked him to move but he didn't tell her he wasn't able to, so she turned around and jabbed his feet with a pen. The other 6th grade boy kicked her in the back to get her to stop. Then she stood up and yelled to me (in the middle of the presentation) to get him to stop/move/etc. Sigh. The only positive thing is that all the other schools' students were being loud at that point, so I don't think anyone noticed. Or very few did. 

So I called the 6th grader to come down by me. He didn't move. We had a staredown for at least a minute, maybe two. Finally, after I made the 8th grader scoot over to make room, this 6th grader joined me on my bench, complaining all the while. Ugh. He wanted to argue right away but I told him we would talk after the main speaker. And that's when we got to the bottom of all of this.

Thankfully, the rest of the day went much smoother. All the kids found their classes. They enjoyed the topics for the most part. I helped a bunch of kids with their embroidery in one of the sessions. Two 7th graders from our school were in the class, but they pretty much had it figured out. I ended up working with four kids from another school. It was fun. I had a lot of flashbacks to when my mom taught my sisters and me how to sew. 

We ended our day with recess in the gym to burn off our energy. Not a bad way for me to come back from vacation!

Arizona was lovely. It was a little chilly Saturday, but Sunday and Monday were sunny and balmy. G and I had some nice family time with his siblings and parents. We went on a few hikes, one for a sunrise view and the other around the town's fountain park and a ridge overlook. Our flight home landed a bit earlier than expected. We braved the MN cold and made it home around 12:15am. Short night of sleep! Hopefully we can recuperate a little more this week before another busy weekend... Fine Arts Festival is coming...