7 year niche

The start of year 7.

When you first meet someone the purpose of casual conversation is not just to find something that you have in common, but to find something to keep the conversation going. No one likes silence with a stranger.

First there's that oh so American question, "What do you do?"

"I'm a teacher."

"What grade do you teach?"

O.K. here we go, "Well I teach K-8 in a one room school up at the ski town of Alta, Utah."

"Really, How does that work?" and the conversation is off the ground.

It seems like eventually I get around to saying, "Yea, I'm the only teacher for all those grades, in fact it's only me, I'm the teacher, the school nurse, the lunch lady and sometimes even the bus driver. It's just me."

But what I have really come to appreciate over the past 6 years is that it is not just me. I teach in a community that supports the school and the children of the community in so many ways. If someone smashes finger the ski patrol will tape it up. If it is more serious the clinic helps out. The local community organizations donate time and money to our art program. Local individuals provided the funding for a computer lab. People with and without kids volunteer time everyday to help with reading, math, writing, art, music, yoga and our ski program. All the local businesses contribute financially and more than that everyone keeps an eye out. So while it is true that I am the only official teacher in this school, the entire community is contributing to these students' lives.

So as my 7th year here at Alta and the 7th year for the school begins I would be ungrateful if I were not to say thank you to everyone who has made the Alta School such a big part of the Alta community. I think maybe I have finally found my niche.