Here in Guatemala the school year runs from the beginning of January to the middle of October, so this past Wednesday (October 15^th) marked the end of the 2014 school year. The school celebrated with their yearly Clausura, a giant extravaganza of a year-end ceremony. It was a time of honouring the students for their hard work and perseverance throughout the past ten months and also a time to demonstrate the creativity and talent of our student body.

The senior kindergarten students and the grade six students received diplomas, the former moving from kindergarten now to primary and the latter moving from primary to basicos, the Guatemalan equivalent of grade seven through nine. Our ESL staff (Julisa, Kayla and Shelby) prepared a ridiculously cute Animal Safari skit that the students performed entirely in English! It was equal parts adorable and impressive.

The dramatic centrepiece of the program was a worship presentation involving live singing, a drime, lots of loud music and loads of flags. It involved a good portion of the student body from all grades and was such a great witness to the parents watching not only of their kids’ talents, but also of the basic message of the gospel.

Towards the end of the ceremony awards were handed out for various achievements. The winning soccer teams of the year received medals and the students with the highest academic achievements in each grade were honoured with a special certificate. The winners of this year’s Bible verse memory competition were presented with brand new bikes!

It was a great day of rejoicing and celebration, an opportunity to come together with the parents and acknowledge the hard work of our students throughout the year. Pray that our students would continue to grow in their relationship with Christ during vacation and pray for our staff as we begin to prepare for the start of the next school year in January.