A special story...

I have to write about one of my favorite students here at Choate b/c she's just too special NOT to write about! This year Choate was able to bring a young girl to the USA from Kenya to give her the chance of a lifetime. She is absolutely the sweetest, most appreciative young girl I've ever met. Choate has given her so many things, a year ago, she probably never even dreamed of having. People are so kind to her, they provide her with cleats if she wants to play soccer, etc. You can't help but know her, and adore her. I saw her over the weekend and she said "hey em will you come to my game on monday??" so I asked her what time and then told her I would be there. she responded "THANKS EM!" with a huge smile. I am starting to cry just writing this. She plays JV softball, so I went to watch yesterday...if you knew our jv softball team you would know how hard it is to sit through one of their games, but when she came off the field and saw me and screamed "hey em!!", I didn't mind at all! She has never played or even seen baseball or softball before and there she was behind home plate catching. Her name is Thatcher, she calls herself "Thatcher the catcher". Yesterday at her game I found out it was her birthday today. She has NEVER celebrated her birthday. She didn't know what a birthday cake was or the tradition of singing and blowing out candles. She was SO excited to "see how today would be different this year". I left dorm duty to run over to her dorm where they were having cake, it was the sweetest thing to see her experience all of that for the first time. And it was especially amazing to see how grateful she was. The admissions office gave her a digital camera....her reaction was priceless. It's great to do things like that for kids who aren't used to it...but it's even better when they are so appreciative. Someone took her earlier to get her ears pierced, she loved showing them off! She kept saying it was the best birthday ever...i absolutely can't wait to see her flourish during the next three years. That's what makes working and living at a boarding school so rewarding!! I'll try to get some pics of her, seeing this girl smile will make your day!!