Students celebrate some very important people

"Is there anything we can do?"

"Well, you can start cutting up the bananas for the fruit plates."

Thus began the morning for the senior class, the morning of Grandparents' Day, last Friday.

Grandparents are a huge part of Faith Christian School's support group. It is from them we get much of our support. They are a significant portion of the audience in band concerts and drama productions. It is to them we write to sponsor us in the annual jog-a-thon or other fundraisers, and some grandparents even come to the jog-a-thon to encourage and refresh us with oranges and ice.

So, once a year, we set apart a day to give back to them.

This year, the seniors were involved the first half of the day at the elementary campus by helping with the brunch, taking over jobs such as greeting, registration and coffee and food setup.

But even though the program had virtually nothing to do with the high-schoolers, some of the seniors found themselves reminiscing at old traditions, such as the kindergarten reciting Psalm 100 and the lower grades singing "At Grandma's House," a song I remember performing every year since first grade.

After lunch, both seniors and grandparents migrated across the road to the secondary campus, where another program awaited them. They listened to the orchestra, participated in a few amusing polls, such as the earliest high school graduate, and heard a speech about veterans and one or two vocal soloists.

But the fun had only just begun. For the last hour of the day, the grandparents accompanied their grandchildren to the final class, where the teachers had prepared something special for them.

For instance, in Math 7, Mrs. Zarza had asked her students to create their own game boards. Then, on Friday, the students used math problems to play their game with their grandparents. She said it turned out rather well, because there were some concepts the grandparents didn't remember and others that they knew much better than their grandchildren.

Visitors to advanced band enjoyed old jazz tunes; the drama class performed their numbers for "Way, Way, Way Off Broadway"; and students in Bible 8 shared their testimonies.

Even students who either do not have grandparents or whose grandparents cannot attend can still participate by asking an older adult to become their "honorary grandparent."

Not only does Grandparents' Day give grandparents a chance to see their grandchildren's school, it is also a very special time of bonding. They come from near and far to participate, many from the Yuba-Sutter area, but even some from as far as Toronto, just to say to their grandchildren in a special way: "I love you."

Katherine McLain is a senior at Faith Christian High School. Her column appears about every sixth week in Education.