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One of my favorite events of each school year is the whole school end-of-year assembly. All students, staff, many alumni, parents and other family members come together to celebrate. Of course we celebrate the coming of summer holiday, but we also celebrate the AAS community.

Did you know that the mules at the Grand Canyon have evolved significantly longer forelegs relative to their hindlegs? This keeps them upright on their steep, rocky descent to the canyon floor.

I shared this amazing fact with a group of my undergraduate peers at University. 

A few weeks ago, as I was welcoming the students off the buses in the morning, something beautiful happened. A stork landed on the other side of the field and started having its breakfast of worms. As soon as the Elementary Students spotted it, they all stopped their games of tag, they all stopped chatting about their week-end, they all stopped to watch this majestic bird eat, in silence.

If you’re a parent of a child over 5 years old, chances are you’ve encountered video games in some form. Whether they’re playing games on your phone, watching the Minecraft movie, or you've bought a PS5, video game culture has probably entered your home

Yikes! There are only 19 days of school remaining in the 2024-25 school year. That means summer is quickly approaching (even if the weather does not seem that way). It also means we are in the exciting–and a bit frenetic–season of special events.

In the annals of long distance travel - whether by skiff or Shinkansen, by Ryanair or Ford Ranger - no singular invention has made travelling with younguns more bearable than the invention of the hand-held screen.  The fidgety knuckleheadness of chair-strapped youths almost overnight vanished when this glorious, golden personalized player emerged from the bag of wet wipes, crackers and squished bananas. Enter Teletubbies, Superfriends, Brawl Stars and Roblox.

As school counselor, I'm involved in a lot of different transitions. And it's definitely that time of year: Grade 5 students are getting ready to move up to Middle School, for example, and grade 8s are preparing for High School. The students are, of course, accompanied by their families,  joining in for the ups and downs that will accompany those big divisional milestones. 

Stanimira Georgieva is a social enterpreneur, a master chocolatier and a dedicated runner and we are extremely happy and grateful that she is a part of the AAS community. Stanimira served on the school board for 9 years while her daughter was at AAS. She continues to be a friend. Read more about her and her passion project - The Pleven Friendship Marathon that is coming up next weekend. 

As we head into a very “long weekend” in honor of the Bulgarian holidays of Labor Day (May 1) and St. George’s Day (May 6) which fall on Thursday and Tuesday respectively, I took some time this week to talk with students and staff about what they are looking forward to doing on the days off.

I’m often asked by parents what they can do to support their child’s social emotional development outside of school. There is no big secret, and most already know the answer before asking; family. Specifically, spending time with your children.