my Hungarian students: a tribute

Last week, I heard from one of my former Hungarian students, Viki. It totally brightened my week. I taught her and her classmates in 2002-2003, when they were freshmen ("9's"). The program they were in required putting in FIVE high school years, not four (it's a competitive English program), so they graduated this year as "13's". I thought of them so often this spring, knowing there were all kinds of events happening to commemorate their accomplishments. (Here they are doing a musical number. They do that, in Hungary.) It's a hard program! To celebrate, I thought it'd be fun to post pictures I had of them over the years. Granted, I have a ton to choose from, and the best ones are framed. So these are taken straight from the photo album, except for the last one, which Viki sent last week. She sent me scores of pics of their class! I loved looking at each one to see how they grew up and changed and became adults. I loved these kids very much. I was close to a lot of them; we had tons of good times (swimming, softball, playing "Celebrity", eating Mexican food, walking to McDonalds, seeing movies, ice skating), great conversations, and thoughtful classes together. I am proud of them.

(click on the picture to see a larger version)

During my year with them, when they were 9's (2003). This is two thirds of the class enjoying spring weather by learning how to play softball, across the street from school and outside of where I lived. I spent a couple of weeks teaching them how to play. They LOVED it! The other third of the group was in a different lesson at the time but later came out and joined us. I learned recently that they still played softball games with their other American teachers throughout the years.

In 2005, after they finished their 11th year, I was able to reunite with several of them for a couple of hours in a park. (Dave and I had just left Slovakia for our weeklong English camp mission trip). They filled me in on the students that couldn't make it, and they even brought me gifts and pictures. I know we could have spent hours more talking, but an onslaught of rainshowers cut our time short.
And this is 2007, at their graduation ceremony. As a class, they got really spiffy coordinating clothes. I think they look fantastic! It's a pity more of them aren't in this shot. That's Viki on the right, in the sleeveless top holding the flowers to her chest.

I have prayed a lot for these students over the years, and I love them very much. May God bless them in their future studies, jobs, and relationships.