Separation anxiety

During the rather infrequent lulls between location shots and editing mania in the past few days, several students spontaneously and independently approached me with fears and concerns about their next big adventure: moving on! As I understood it, their trepidation centered around two major events: entering high school in fall, and more immediately, leaving the nest - better known as SGS - in a matter of weeks. With these various conversations in mind, I awoke yesterday morning with the realization that we, as a group, needed to talk, so I laid aside my envisioned lesson plan and instead, we spent a good segment of yesterday examining and then sharing our concerns. After a brief introduction about feelings - "they aren't right or wrong, they simply are" - and dealing with fear - (I related the story of a woman who had recurring dreams about being chased by a monster that only went away when, in her last dream of this nature, she turned and faced the monster instead of running, only to have it evaporate, along with the dreams, before her very eyes) - I asked each student to take a few moments and write about that which was paramount on her mind at that moment. Reading through their reflections last night, I saw what I expected to see: much concern over friendships lapsing due to separation, issues about starting over in a new, unfamiliar, large, SCARY environment (aka High School), worry about measuring up, myriad fears about psycho/emotional safety and the lack thereof... We began a discussion in each core which then naturally led to an all-group lunch meeting where we continued to share. As each girl spoke from the heart about her concerns, we then examined the feelings that lay just beneath the surface of the story: fear, sadness, excitement, confusion. While this will necessarily constitute an ongoing conversation, it has begun, and the accompanying release of a certain amount of tension is noticeable as a result. I suspect that these conversations might be occurring at home as well. If not, I suspect they will be! As always, feel free to communicate with any of us about issues you see mattering to your 8th grader!

And now it's on to the Museum of Flight for our big "on location" shot!

Oh and…don't forget to bring your dirty cars our 8th grade car wash in the church parking lot across from SGS from 12:30 to 4:30 THIS SATURDAY! We thank you in advance for your patronage!