On Tuesday mornings I get the best treat. Our piano and choir teacher comes to school and holds lessons throughout the morning. First individual piano lessons, then rhythm choir, followed by our vocal choir. The sound passes faintly through the walls, a pleasing backdrop to the work I need to complete.
In a school this small, each staff member wears many hats. Sometimes hats sit on our heads jaunty and stylish as straw hats in the English summer. We feel them perched lightly atop our list of things to do, ribbons of accomplishment trailing behind.
Other days we wear water-logged beanies stacked one on top of the other, dripping need down the backs of our necks. Diligently plucking at each one and wringing it out as we go accomplishes goals one at a time. The burdens of busy work can seem endless and the accomplishments painfully small; but the one accomplishment that is never small is ministering to the needs of our students.
As a school on Guam, we're a small fish in a pretty small pond. But the work we do with our students is mighty. Each student receives one-to-one attention every day in a way that larger schools struggle to offer. We are able to cater to each individual child's learning style and help them navigate their own paths to learning.
Even more than that, we are able to help students make adjustments to their character traits. Our goal is to instill into the life of each child who crosses our path character traits of Christ - compassion, awareness, love, kindness, perseverance, deference, diligence... the list is long.
The result is students who have personal relationships with the Lord, understand themselves and their personal work habits, and are ready to face the world outside the walls of this institution, as well as outside the walls of their own homes. Because older students also minister to the younger as mentors, tutors, and "big brothers and sisters," all students learn to cooperate and communicate with others outside their immediate age group. We are a family, a family who cares for and builds each other up for success. We are a small but mighty community of people who desire to emulate and follow the Lord.