Random picture of Noah eating lunch after playing in the snow.
Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA){PUBLICATION2}
February 23, 2009
Page: A3
PENN LAIRD - Working with middle school students can sometimes be daunting, but one local school administrator found rejuvenation in an unlikely place. Drew Miller, assistant principal at Montevideo Middle School, traveled to South Africa in September and says the experience made him even more committed to his career. Since returning from the trip that was sponsored by Rotary International, Miller has shared photos and stories about the culture and educational system in South Africa with local students, teachers and community members. Rotary International sends business professionals to other countries through its Group Study Exchange. The program provides travel grants for teams to visit different countries, where they observe how their vocations are practiced, according to the Rotary International Web site. Next month, a group from South Africa will visit this area as part of the exchange. Miller said he applied for the South Africa trip because he's always wanted to visit the nation located at the southern tip of Africa to see how its people are dealing with issues such as race relations, poverty and crime, especially in the school systems. "I've always wanted to go, particularly to South Africa," Miller said. "The problems that ... they're addressing are problems, really, our whole world is addressing." South Africans Face Hardships Miller and his group traveled to about a dozen different towns and villages throughout South Africa and stayed with host families the duration of the month-long trip. When he wasn't visiting orphanages or gold mines, Miller toured schools and visited with teachers, administrators and students to get a feel for how the country's education system operates. During his visits to schools, Miller also shared information about the United States education system and talked about what it's like to work in Rockingham County Schools. The trip, Miller said, was eye opening and unforgettable. He visited a school that operated out of run-down one-room building with outhouses, a school where teachers left for the day when the principal was out at a conference, and a school where teachers were forced to continue working with a student who assaulted the school secretary. Despite facing such overwhelming problems as AIDS, poverty, crime and high unemployment, Miller said he saw a lot of happiness on his trip. Children who walked to school barefoot in shorts and T-shirts on a 45-degree day still played and smiled, he said. "I saw kids playing with garbage and having a blast," Miller said. "I just wonder if [the South African teacher] comes here and says, 'These people have everything and they're not content.'" 'A Renewed Calling' As he took in the South African culture and observed its educational system, Miller said he felt a greater sense of the importance education plays in people's lives. All the major problems plaguing the country could be improved through better education, he said. "It was like a renewed calling [to my job as an educator]," said Miller, who is in his second year as assistant principal at Montevideo Middle School. "I thought, 'Here's why I do what I do.'" Supervisor Supportive Of Trip Lisa Milliken, principal at Montevideo Middle School, said she was supportive of Miller's decision to go to South Africa and can tell that his experiences there have only fueled his drive to help children. "This position can be very stressful and frustrating at times; it can make you question your purpose as an educator," Milliken said. "I think after seeing the poverty, crime and violence in South Africa, [Drew] became even more compassionate about his purpose here." In addition to refreshing Miller's career perspective, his experiences in South Africa open up possibilities for future exchanges with the people he met during his trip, Milliken said. "The development of a relationship between Drew and the South African students [could] lead to great learning activities such as a pen pal project between our students and South African students," she said. "I know others, like teachers, students and community members, are learning from his experience as well." Contact Jenny Jones at 574-6286 or jjones@dnronline.com
Copyright (c) 2009, Byrd Newspapers, All Rights Reserved.
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It snowed yesterday and Drew didn't have to go to work. So we teamed up with our friends, the Tongens, and headed to Massanutten for a day on the slopes. Noah really enjoyed his first skiing experience. Megan and Anthony took turns teaching him how to snow plow. After a short while Noah felt confident enough to head up the mountain. Here he is with Drew and Anthony after a successful trip down the bunny slope.
I am not very fond of skiing and welcomed the chance to hang out with the little boys while everyone else skied. Paul, Ben and I played in the snow around the ski lodge and had a great time together.
Ben and Paul enjoyed throwing snow balls (really ice chunks)
Drew and Noah play checkers together regularly. I caught Noah trying to teach Ben to play earlier this week. His efforts were well received but not very successful.
Yesterday Ben had a run-in with the sink at Kids Klub (the childcare at our gym). Here is a picture of his slightly swollen and crooked nose. He was a trooper and barely cried at all. I feel like all boys should have bent noses or split lips at some point in their life. Hopefully this will be our "big" injury for 2009. (wishful thinking)
Drew and his sister, Kristin
Opa and his ever present camera
Ben and Sandy
DIY projects...
During Drew's nine days of vacation he worked on a few projects. Here he is putting in a recessed light in the kitchen over our oven. The boys enjoyed watching him while he worked. Don't worry...this picture is not an example of the finished project. The end result looks very nice.
On Christmas morning the boys came downstairs to find a space train already set up for them to play with. This is a tradition carried over from Drew's childhood. The boys were entertained for quite a while and gave us time to make coffee and wake up a bit. Both Ben and Noah surprised and blessed me during the day with their kind words and thankful hearts. When it was time to open presents and do stockings, both boys sat on the sofa and exclaimed over everything they got. I heard a lot of "wow, look at this" and "thanks". Both boys were excited about each others gifts and affirmed each other repeatedly. (such a gift for mom to hear) The final gift for each of them was delivered via a scavenger hunt using picture clues. Ben found a new scooter and Noah found a power wheels 4-wheeler (that I found at a yard sale during the summer). Finally we ate a wonderful breakfast (that Drew had prepared the night before) and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then at 8:10 we were completely done with "Christmas" and settled down for a long day of playing with the new toys. It was a nice day outside and much of our time was spent outside riding scooters and power wheels. It took Noah all of 10 minutes to figure out how to do a power skid on his 4 wheeler. A few neighbors stopped by in the late afternoon. We finished off our day with a game of Cadoo (my gift from the boys). Ben and I pulled off a miraculous win and got to sit on our opponents (Drew and Noah) as a reward for our winning effort.
The Miller family motto for this past year was “Looking Great in 2008.” Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out as well as we’d hoped. While neither boy combs his hair on a regular basis (see photo), both boys have learned that navy blue pants with a black shirt is a definite No-No. Since Peyton and I can already comb our hair and create non-clashing outfits, we decided to take it to the next level this past year.
For me (Drew) that included a trip to the
While I was away gaining weight in
Noah has had quite a year with soccer and school. He played in a backyard soccer league and according to some parents we should plan on him receiving a soccer scholarship to college. I think we’ll go ahead and rely on the 529 plan just in case. Speaking of higher education, Noah will be starting kindergarten next fall. He outshouted his classmates at the pre-school Thanksgiving “program” (I think the whole thing lasted 9 minutes and one student cried for the duration). Noah is now no longer shouting since he got his second set of tubes in his ears last week and can hear as well as most non-80 year-olds. He’ll turn 5 in February and with that rite of passage comes an exciting new privilege in the Miller family: the right to chew gum. Even though Ben is still two, he likes to tell people he’s five with the hopes pf maybe getting a piece of gum from them and because he knows it irritates his “older” brother.
Ben is the comedian of the family and enjoys telling jokes and stories at dinner that only he truly appreciates and, as a result, he’s still eating 10 minutes after we’ve all finished. If only he included the letter “s” in his stories, we might appreciate his story about eating a _nake for a _nack. On another note, a wonderful thing happened this summer, Ben decided that going to the bathroom in your pants is overrated. However, he has created a new definition for the word “Buddies”. (Buddies- n. – small fecal pieces that accompany an initial bowel movement) He has taken the concept of a “buddy system” to a whole new level.
Even though Peyton is outnumbered by three Miller males, she tried to tip the scales in her favor while I was in
We will be at home again this Christmas and look forward to singing Happy Birthday to Jesus as a family on Christmas morning. Hope you have a joyous holiday season.
