I had no space in my semi-asleep mind to realize this at the time, but I was going to Lisbon! Me and 8 other middle school choir  kids: Mwela, Thando, Emily, Grace, Fatoumata, Michelle, Meghan, and Kwabena, the only boy.   Ms. Chandler and Ms. Elder were our chaperones. After a few hours in the air, we were in Lisbon. As soon as we stepped our bedraggled selves outside, we were hit by a wave of sticky heat. We were in Portugal for a choir meeting. Middle Schoolers from all over the Mediterranean came to sing and put on a concert together. For the past 3 months, we had all been practicing the same 10 songs. The hotel was great- huge rooms and an azure blue pool. After “exploring” (i.e. Thando led a search for  boys and Kwabena rolled his eyes at us) we set out to meet the other schools. After a few minutes of talking, conversation turned to the songs. It was cool how knowing the same music brought us together. We talked for a long time- which song was the best, the hardest, the longest, whose chaperone was the weirdest...
 The next day, we practiced for seven hours! Our director was Paige Short. She did an excellent job. Without her help, we probably would have cracked by the fourth hour. By that evening, we had made tons of new friends.

ACST may need a grade three teacher for next year.  Those interested having training, certification, and experience at the third grade level please send a letter of interest along with three references with both telephone and email contacts to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it