Senior Superheroes

Last year I wrote about attending my first "prom." Having never attended prom during my own high school years, last years event remains a unique experience for me. However, this year's Senior Banquet requires something different of me. As the junior class sponsor/mentor/homeroom teacher, it is my job to oversee the preparations for this year's banquet.

Therefore, over the last five months, I have poked and proded (figuratively) the class of 2009 toward the creation of a wonderful event, a night on which we can celebrate and commemorate the class of 2008. We found a wonderful, quiet restaurant on the north side of Kunming. We decided to have a "masquerade" theme. We created a senior video, where the seniors are asked questions and are given an opportunity to say goodbye to their classmates, teachers, and school.

We decided on a class gift, an individual gift given to each of the graduates. Our idea: create a comic book in which the "Senior Superheroes" save the day at a small international school known as KIA (Knowledge In Action). Our heroes save the school from a series of Educational Arch-villains--The Barker, Vanilla Thunder, League-Of-Her-Own, La Dork, 'Can'-field, and Franksenstein. I wrote the story, and Abid, a sophomore, did the illustrations.

However, one problem has occurred: all the drawings are not complete. So Jennifer, one of the juniors, spent yesterday (16 May) throwing together a short video advertising the forthcoming comic book. The video appears much like a movie trailer, and I think it turned out pretty well considering the amount of time she had.

We will be showing the video tonight (17 May) before giving the seniors a framed copy of the drawing showing all of them around the table doing their thing. This will be given, letting them know of the upcoming comic book.

Anyway, I have posted the video on this blog so you can see what the students can do, just in case you are unaware of how much fun it is to work with high school students. I hope you enjoy this short video as much as I enjoy teaching.