Entrance Exams and the Waiting Game
During the week before Easter and the week after Easter, students transitioning from elementary school to high school need to take entrance exams for the schools that they are interested in attending. These students are about 14 or 15 years old. The schools then assess their tests scores as well as evaluate their grades over the last year and a half. There is some sort of rating system which gives students a certain amount of points for their grades and then takes into consideration the exam score. The students with the most combined points are automatically accepted into the school and must indicate within 10 days, whether they will be attending the school the following year. Different schools have differing amounts of spaces open for incoming students. For instance one school only has 30 spots available for students who would like to have English as their second language, while another might have 90 spots. There may be hundreds of students attempting to get into the school that year so it can be quite competitive. Over the last few days, students have been finding out if they have been automatically accepted into at least one of the two schools that they have applied to. I along with many of you have been praying for these students, three of which I know well. One of the three students was accepted to their first choice. One of the students was accepted by their second choice. And one of them wasn't accepted to either of the two schools that they applied to. For the students who weren't automatically accepted into the school or schools that they applied to they must wait 10 days to see how many of the students who were automatically accepted will choose to attend that school. At that point, the next students in line will be contacted about the open positions. If they still have not gotten into a school, they may appeal the decision. As you can imagine this is quite stressful for these young teens. Please continue to pray with me for those who have not gotten into their number one choice. Pray that they would find contentment in where God will have them. And for those who just need to wait and see, pray for God's peace and that He might open an opportunity for them.
The Final Day of High School
The Czech Republic has an interesting tradition when it comes to graduating students who are hoping to attend college the following year. First of all, in order to attend college they must take some exams that will determine if they have the privilege of applying to universities. They exams will be taken over the next month or so, but in order to prepare for the exams these students finish their high school classes about two months before the rest of the students. So many students celebrated their final day in high school either Thursday or Friday of last week. These students celebrate this in a special way, they get dressed up. They don't do this by putting on suits and ties, they do it by putting on costumes of different types. The students will arrive at the school early in their costumes and wait for the other students and teachers to arrive. The graduating students will stop students and teachers alike and demand some money. The money is used for them to celebrate with each other before they focus all of their efforts on studying for the exams. The graduating students will often write on the younger students with marker to show that they paid something and let them through. Later on in the day they celebrate what is known as the "last ringing." The entire school meets to watch presentations that the graduating classes have put together, when they usually create skits to both reminisce and poke fun at the school, the teachers and the administration. I was invited to watch the last ringing at Gymnázium Olgy Halvové on Thursday afternoon and it was quite interesting. It was extra special because one of the graduating students was Matouš. I have quite a few pictures from the event below, but would you keep these students, especially Matouš in your prayers as they study and take exams over the next month or so.
Matouš and his classmates were homeless
Can you spot Matouš?
Singing to earn a little extra money
The next graduating class went with a more traditional look
They put some of their teachers to the test
Men versus ...
Women?
Students presenting the points for each correct answer. It was kind of like Family Feud.
The second class presented all of their teachers with flowers
For the graduates with younger siblings, they got hit with shaving cream by their siblings.
Some of the students enjoying the shows
The final graduating class had a bit more of a sunny theme
No comments:
Post a Comment