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Thank
You Quotes
from the Seventh Grade to Whitefield Grandparents
Participating in the
Black History Month Grandparents Forum
Thank you for speaking at Whitefield Academy’s Living
History Event. It was very interesting listening to real accounts of African-American
grandparents who lived during the time of segregation. Hearing the real stories
helped me to truly understand the hurt that was caused by racism and segregation.
- Emily, 7th
It was amazing how people would treat you this way
even though you are the same—just a different skin color. Even though you were treated
so horribly, you still manage today not to have a grudge.
- Megan, 7th
Thank you for coming to Whitefield and sharing what
you had to go through during segregation. Thank you for not holding any grudges.
Thank you for helping all of us learn some more about the country we live in.
- Jennie, 7th
Thank you so very much for coming to Whitefield to
teach us about the Civil Rights Movement. I learned so much about how you reacted
when people would treat you wrongly. I learned that even the jails were separate!
I have taken wisdom on how to react in these situations.
- Brennan, 7th
I didn’t realize how much power and work you went through
to finally get rights you need(ed) and deserve(d). I really enjoyed your talk.
- Colleen, 7th
I was amazed to find out that children participated
in the marches. It was very interesting to learn about your personal experiences
and about how many ways segregation had an impact on our society.
- Jessica, 7th
Your words and stories truly explain how the world
has changed.
Thank you!
- Richard, 7th
What you said was very interesting. Before you came
I didn’t know anything about the time period that you grew up in. I think the conditions
you had to go through were horrible and I am amazed you came through those experiences
relatively unscathed.
- Christopher, 7th
It amazes me how this country was so cruel to African-Americans.
I was also surprised to hear that even the policemen treated Blacks this way. I
enjoyed hearing how it really was, since you can receive more from a person than
a history book.
- Caroline, 7th
The stories you told made us appreciate what we have
now.
Thank you for coming.
- Jordan, 7th
I’m sorry you had to go through that.
- Caitlin,7th
Your stores were very powerful. I still don’t think
we’ll ever understand how hard it was to live through those times. I’m sorry that
you were so badly mistreated.
- David, 7th
Alice Fugate, a member of the Class of 2014, was a Top Ten Winner with her essay
“Imagination” in a recent writing competition for thousands of students sponsored
by Creative Communication, a nation-wide writing organization. Essays were chosen
for their literary merit, creativity, and social significance. As part of this award,
Alice becomes a published author with the printing of the 2007 anthology Celebrating
What’s Important To Me.
"Imagination"
There is a wondrous land that exists in everyone’s mind called Imagination. There’s
everything from exciting forests to dark, horrid swamps. Some people may have dull,
black and white imaginations, others vivid and colorful. Exploring Imagination takes
a lot of guts, so get ready.
Imagination is the creativity of our hearts and minds. It’s what we think about
all the time. Imagination aids us in life; everything takes a little of it. The
most exotic type of imagination is that of a child’s. No offense to adults, but
they usually are not as creative as children. You can use your imagination
for almost anything, from creating an imaginary friend to giving a worldwide speech.
To let your imagination run wild, you just have to get a creative spark and you’ll
have a bonfire in no time at all.
Imagination is a fantabulous place. It’s also a gift that we all receive wrapped
up in glittering paper. If you throw it away, you will have an uneventful life the
way I see it. I hope you feel ready to explore Imagination now that you know a little
about it. I leave the rest to you. Have fun and be careful!
In June 2007, a group of Whitefield Upper School students and faculty members travelled
to Quito, Ecuador for the fourth Whitefield summer mission project. The article
below was written by the team leader, Jan LeCraw, mathematics instructor at Whitefield.
BIG BROTHERS, BIG SISTERS
On the fourth floor of the Carmen Bajo School in Quito, Ecuador, 14 Whitefield students
and teachers had been laboring all morning. Spreading wet plaster over cinder blocks,
sanding dry plaster, taping areas to be painted, and painting, we looked like gingerbread
men dusted with powdered sugar and decorated by preschoolers. With a short break
before lunch, we scrubbed up in a trough-like outdoor sink and looked forward to
our meal. Outside the window, we could hear the students heading to recess.
This is when I knew what a group of dedicated young men and women had come on this
trip to serve. Dragging themselves off the floor where they had collapsed to rest,
the high school students filed out to the "playground," a 30 x 50 foot concrete
enclosure built by last year’s team. Some carried soccer balls, some had jump ropes,
all had heart. The little children swarmed around them, and for a few seconds, I
could not see some of my team members! For the next 30 minutes, it was a free-for-all
of piggyback rides, dodge ball, and swinging kids around in circles. Lunch was a
little late that day.
Missions is about serving and sharing the Gospel. It always focuses on Christ, but
how that occurs can be surprising. Sometimes it simply means being a big brother.
Aaron Childree, recent Whitefield graduate in the class of ’07, All-Region Tennis
player as well as musician, singer/songwriter presented the following gift to his
fellow seniors at the end-of-the-year Senior Dinner in May, ’07; Aaron sang and
accompanied himself on the keyboard.
"These are the lyrics to a song I’ve written about my high school experience and
the thought of leaving it all to go to college:
The curtain closes on our time here,
But another opens somewhere.
Forget me tomorrow, I’ll be out of sight.
Forget me forever, but not tonight.
It seemed to last forever when it began,
But the minutes are crueler at the end.
We didn’t even notice all the time we’d spent,
The time that came, the time that went
faster than we knew.
I can’t forget all that everyone has done for me.
I can’t forget the years.
Though I can’t remember all the conversations that I’ve had,
I’ll always remember you here.
So the curtain closes on you and me,
Because from where I’m going you’re too far to reach.
I didn’t even notice as the rift grew between
The things I want and the things that I see.
I see you..
But I can’t forget all the moments you have given me.
I can’t forget the years.
Though I can’t predict all that lies ahead, beyond my reach,
I’ll always remember you here."
- By Aaron Childree
Dear Teachers,
I’m sure that you have heard more than a fair share of groans and whines from students
now and in the past over test essays and in-class essays. I am probably responsible
for a few of them myself!
However, I cannot thank you enough now. For my Philosophy class exam…we had to present
Aquinas’s cosmological, Paley’s teleological, and Anselm’s ontological arguments
for the existence of God, and then argue which we thought to be most convincing.
We had a solid 50 minutes to write and most students were panicking. Thanks to my
wonderful Whitefield education, however, I laid the smack down on that essay in
under 20 minutes without a problem (probably because I wrote about 200 just like
them in high school). I just want to thank you for your unceasing patience and instruction
that have prepared me and countless others so well for college and life thereafter.
Thanks to you, I feel both prepared for college and a longing to come back to your
classrooms. Thanks!
A member of the class of 2005
There are certain times in life when we experience a sense of what God calls true
character and steadfastness by watching it play out in the lives of others. Our
12-year-old daughter’s first cross-country meet for Whitefield was the backdrop
for one of those dramatic moments.
Spirits were high as the gun sounded. Teams from many Atlanta area schools sprinted
into the woods to begin the 2-mile trek, Whitefield among them. We knew that our
daughter struggled athletically but Coach Tolford had encouraged our daughter to
train over the summer with a goal to be able to finish a 2-mile race. We saw our
daughter making her way to finish the first mile as everyone else was pushing toward
the completion of the finish line. Amid the cheers and clappers for the finishers,
our daughter ran back into the woods to start her second mile. It seemed an eternity
before she emerged from the wooded course, just after the gun had sounded for the
Varsity teams to begin. Off went the older runners into the woods, as our daughter,
clearly struggling, emerged onto the final trek. Without ado, her middle-school
team saw her task and pushing aside their own feelings of exhaustion and/or middle
school embarrassment, all joined her in running and cheering to the finish line.
The time clock had already been restarted for the Varsity teams, but time was not
important...the finish line was!
It was not only our daughter who received a priceless gift that afternoon. All those
who were sitting in the stands were witness to a remarkable living out of God's
love. At first, many did not know how to respond. However, upon seeing her team
respond as they did, hands and hearts began to cheer loudly for one struggling 12
year old.
I don't know of any other school that encourages such character. It might be misunderstood
in a world of high competition, but I am sure that the students on our daughter’s
middle school team touched onto something eternal last Tuesday!
A Whitefield parent
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