08 April 2008

Yesterday

The first kid that talked to me this morning said, "Somebody was ppough, ppough last night. I know." He did this as he grabbed his head & smiled.

Yesterday was just kind of a weird day with a bad ending. I woke up at 4:00am b/c I was due at school to use the Internet for a 5am live chat with my classmates. That never happened. So, I just stayed at school surfing the net & having a nice slow morning. In the classroom, it was stressful, but a really good day b/c overall we accomplished a lot of stuff. Two of my most studious students were even absent. That evening, we interviewed, & I think hired, for the open SA (principal) position.

Following that meeting we were informed that one of our junior high students Chris, maybe 16 years old, committed suicide. He used a gun, to the head, in his dad's shop right outside their house. There are probably 10 people who live there; lots of kids, one which is a student of mine, in foster care. At about 5pm my face felt all flushed, hot & red, & I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I wonder if that's when they found him. The kid who greeted me this morning is his cousin. Obviously, he isn't torn up about it. I'm really concerned about how our student body, mostly those kids close to him in his age & the multiple cousins he has here. My students are usually pretty mater of fact about death. I also play basketball & I'm pretty good friends with two of his sisters. I'm going to go see the family & the body in his house today. Chris always had a great smile!Photo by Christina ('06?)

2 comments:

Deanna said...

so sad. i don't know how i'd handle it if a kid here did that. its also weird and kinda sad how kids react. i was surprised and the indifference.

on a different note, i'm glad you found out who your new sa is. are you happy about that one?

Carey said...

Deanna B. was pretty upset at the house, when she first viewed his body. She couldn't go close for a long time. If she's there, maybe keep that in mind. I'm sure there are a lot of folks over there who knew Chris.

I'm very pleased to know who my SA is going to be next year. Garry seems like a really good guy, w/ great communication. He was the dean here before, so hopefully his discipline will be strong too.

P.S. You should come over to play cards some time this week. We went to Oscarville Sat. & played Canasta & Eucre. Sara R. was in BET though.