Oct. 19: Senior Night

Senior Night at the Ballgame

Each sporting season, one night is picked to recognize seniors and their sporting achievements. Tonight was the night for fall sports! Alex was chosen to participate in this activity because he will not be here when he is a senior. The students and their parents are all gathered at the Bark 'N' Bite, and put in alphabetical order within their sports. Some kids and their parents are in more than one fall sporting activity, and get to go through the line 2 or 3 times. The announcer tells the student and parents' names, and then the future plans of the student. Alex was announced as planning to attend college in Nigeria and major in accounting. We are so proud!

Oct. 16: One Proud Mama

One Proud Mama

At 6 am Jermaya headed off to The World Food Prize! He is one of 6 IRIS students chosen. He wrote a paper called :Egypt: We Need Clean Water. The Food Prize is held in Des Moines Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Security is insane, and we are not even allowed to go this year! Evidently there are 3 security checkpoints and lots of guards. 

I'll add to this post as well, as soon as Jer shares some photos with me! :)

Sorry, Jer, for not getting this out before now! I have been having much difficulty getting the pictures onto my computer so I can do this page. I still don't have homecoming stuff, so at least I finally got this one going! :)

We are so very proud of Jermaya for being one of 6 IRIS students chosen to present their papers at the World Food Prize. Jim helped him write the paper on many different nights. The kicker was that the paper was due after they had been here only a couple of weeks! Yikes!

I am going to Jer do most of the details about his trip on Facebook. However, let me just say that he had a fantastic time, and it was a once in a lifetime experience! He was very motivated to go, and very excited upon coming home! He met a lot of new friends, made tons of contacts, and enjoyed the whole experience.

After school. the boys ran in the Conference Cross Country meet in Mount Pleasant. We are so very proud of both of them!

Alex ran his best race ever, he said. He was very excited that he got 19th place. He is sad that cross country is over, however, because he will miss the children. Pretty sure he means his team mates! :) Alex had a great season, in spite of a couple of injuries. He did an awesome job running for the team, especially when you consider that he has never really run before, and has certainly not run cross country! Way to go, Alex!

Jamo, too, had a great race and beat out the varsity runner. This means that Jamo will get to run in Districts next week as a member of the varsity team. Way to go, Jamo!

Oct. 11: IRIS Field Trip

IRIS Field Trip

We drove the boys to Muscatine for this mandatory, yet fun, field trip. More details and pictures later!

Oct. 11: Homecoming Dance

Homecoming Dance

Don't you love my innovative titles? I really don't lack creativity, I just want the boys to be able to find what they are looking for when they get home!

Note: This post is in progress. I am gleaning photos from several sources. With the boys doing 3 different groups at 2 different times, it was impossible to get photos for all 3 myself.

So the Homecoming Dance is a fairly casual affair. Most boys wear khakis or jeans. Girls wear shorter, fancy dresses with mixed footwear. Pretty much anything is acceptable. Kids don't usually buy flowers for each other. Either the boy or the girl can do the asking. The dance was in the MPR (multi purpose room) and was moderately decorated. 

Alex: was asked to go by Emma Dravis. They went with a group to eat out at Big Muddy's. 

Jermaya: asked Haley Guzman. They went with a group to eat at Chandler's.

Jamo: asked Kierra Pauley. They went with a group to eat at Hannah Goebble's house. Her mom made dinner for the kids. They had filet mignon with pesto pasta. Yum!

Don't tell anyone: the boys were nervous to go to the dance! :) I understand- they had never been to an American dance before and didn't know what to expect. Everyone, however, had a GREAT time at the dance and enjoyed themselves.

Oct. 10: Homecoming Game

Homecoming Game

For those of you not in the know, homecoming is a big deal! People come from all graduating classes to watch the big game. Bleachers are sectioned off for certain classes so that people can sit together and find each other.  This year we played Centerville, the Big Red. Our slogan was "Turn the Big Red Blue".

The team, flanked by band, coming out onto the field.

The huddle.

Not the final score:) That was 47-41.

Jamo doin' his thang.

Alex was disappointed I didn't have any face paint for him!

Oct. 9: Homecoming Events

Homecoming Events

For you out-of-towners, homecoming is a huge deal here in small town Iowa! The events take place all week long, beginning with Monday, which was Twin Day. Faculty and students are encouraged to wear matching outfits with their friends. Tuesday was Hawaiian Day, Wednesday was Movie or TV Character Day(Jamo had the boys wear their traditional outfits and tell everyone that that was what people on TV always wore in their countries! Where does he get this stuff!), Thursday was Kid Day (where you dress like a little kid) and Friday is Spirit Day, where you show your school spirit by wearing school colors.

Students are voted for by their peers and selected to be on the Homecoming Court; 6 boys and 6 girls from the senior class. This year there was a tie for the girls, so there were actually 7 girls on the court. The Homecoming Court eats a nice brunch on Thursday that is put on by the parents. Thursday evening is usually kicked off with a fun parade downtown that goes backwards from all the other parades in town (it starts east and heads west). All of the fall sports have floats, including the cheerleaders, Red Pride Club, Dance Team, faculty, and other groups. After the parade the coronation is held either at Central Park or at the stadium. Then there is the Powder Puff football game in which the senior girls comprise the teams. The senior boys participate in a volleyball game.Afterwards, there is a bonfire in the band practice field. (More about Friday's events on Friday!)

Unfortunately, most of the homecoming events were cancelled today because of impending rain. However, a few things were held in the gym. First, the marching band did their thing:

 Brass Section

Drum Line

An excited crowd

Color Guard

And then came the cheerleaders...

Then the Grand Marshall, Tess Thompson...

Then the Homecoming Court...

Finally the King and Queen!

Billy Coppage & Allie Berghoffer

After the coronation, the kids did have the volleyball match, and the girls ended up doing dodgeball, that perennial favorite!

Oct. 2: 3 Views On Fog

On Fog

Midwest (Jamo): We get fog all the time. Especially in the fall and spring. Today's fog was pretty thick, but it has been way worse. Sometimes you can't see 2 feet in front of you! Drivers drive with their dim lights on because the bright lights just reflect the light back into your eyes and you have even less visibility. Sometimes we get a 2 hour delay because of the fog, but not as often as I would like!

Nigeria (Alex): We get fog sometimes, but not often. It is not as bad as it was here today. Drivers just turn their lights off.

Egypt (Jermaya): I have only seen fog 2 times. We do not get it in my city. I saw it in the capital. It was not as bad as this. Drivers sometimes put their lights on 3.

This is the peninsula in the lake.

Back Yard

Looking out the front door towards the lane.