Back to school. or not?

Yea, my kids may be grown, but I still like to brag on them! Watching your adult kids do cool things is definitely a well deserved reward!

Our daughter Sarah and husband Jeff moved to Chicago this summer for his new job. (When you return to grad school and get a new degree, it's always great to find employment when you finish.) Unfortunately, his new job put Sarah on the job market...again...4th time in 4 years! She filled out a kazillion of those online forms for teaching jobs, and finally resorted to hand-delivering resumes to nearby schools, just hoping for an interview.

She was thrilled when she got the call from Lane Tech College Prep, a nearby public high school, and even more excited when she got the job! It's a HUGE school (over 4200 students) in a beautiful, historic building. The architecture of the school is "Gothic factory" style, and it's enormous! Sarah was excited when she first visited the campus, because it reminded her of Wichita North, her own alma mater. North High is so old, it's on the historic register! Below is a pic of the historic tower entrance at good ol' North High (also my alma mater!).

I've had so much fun researching this interesting school, right in the heart of Chicago. Lane Tech begin over 100 years ago, and has evolved through the years to meet changing student needs. The building is an art teacher's dream with over 65 giant historic murals dating from the Chicago World's Fair during the Depression 1933-34 and WPA projects. Remember studying Works Progress Administration (WPA) in your own high school history class? I'll give extra credit points for those of you who can define "WPA".

I'm wondering if school lunches would taste better when you're eating in a giant cafeteria, surrounded by beautiful works of art? Maybe....

Sarah began school yesterday, and arrived at 6:30 AM (just to be ready) in her "first day of school" outfit.  When you were a student as a kid, did it ever occur to you that your teacher could be nervous? She had an exciting day meeting all of her AP Art History and Art Appreciation students. Then, a totally new experience awaited her AFTER school. They had a "practice" picket, for the anticipated teacher's strike next week. OOPS - looks like school may have a very early "fall break" this year!

Finally...thanks for your patience...I'm cruising around the massive Lane Tech website this morning, looking for photos of the school, when I find the image above! It's Sarah's cupcake painting (on the right) on the home page for the Lane Tech art department. How cool - she's taught there for one day and she's on the website!

Here's to all of my teacher pals (and I have A LOT of them) and my daughter, Sarah...wishing you Happy Back to School!