Day will always come after the night and calmness after the storm... and after a year and a half of virtual learning and teaching, here comes back in person learning! Today it was a very special and joyful day as we welcomed back all the students and their families in our school. Even though we still need to wear mask, the atmosphere was exciting. The feeling that maybe we're getting back to the 'old days' gives us all new hope and power to carry on.

Our school has a long history. Today, we've marked the tenth new school year opening day since our school has been constituted in its current format. There still are families among us, who started those ten years back by giving their time, commitment and knowledge to set up and run the organization like ours. People, who did whatever they could offer or give to provide a safe and thriving environment for our kids to help them stay connected with their polish roots and heritage. Yet, it is always a great pleasure to see new faces joining our school community. And today we saw a lot of them! Having fresh families joining gives us the opportunity to grow and evolve as we get new perspectives and ideas. We always meet them with open arms hoping for people willing to volunteer their time and resources to help run our school.

We are aware, this year more than ever, that change is unavoidable. That the people who have always been there for us, for the school, would some day step back and give place for the new faces. But our goal is to ensure smooth transitions whenever they are upon us; to guarantee that day-to-day responsibilities and decisions are being addressed and our school is growing despite or maybe event thank to those changes. We do it all for our kids and teens. And we, the parents, do it also for ourselves. We want our kids to belong, to recognize and be proud of their polish heritage. It's a multi level process, started at home, but our school should be a place that provides good opportunities for this process to evolve. We do hope, that some day, there will be a moment of clarity for the individuals, for the families, when what might have been unspoken so far, would become transparent: our kids, as well as we, belong to something else than every day English-spoken, American-brought up reality. It's a real joy to hear those kids singing Polish songs by the fire during our school camps. It's a real joy to see how they interact with their peers in Poland when visiting families and friends. It's a real joy to know that our school brings people together; that some live long friendship wouldn't probably happen with out it. Being closed up for over the year, we all missed out on those. We are very proud and thankful to our community, especially to our teachers, for being with us, working really hard during those virtual months. Thanks to all of you, we were able to get back and welcome everyone in person today! Together, we really can do more.

Putting all that pathos aside, it was just a clear pleasure to see everybody today. To talk with you, to interact, to be able to see all kids smiling - even masked up. The first day of school year is always a little hectic and run on the highest gear, but it's done. Now we should look only straight ahead and concentrate on this school year as we face some minor and major changes. But today was full of laughter, full of playing and maybe even a little of fooling around as the students got to know each other as well as their teachers. After the general welcome back gathering, the kids and teens got to spend some time with their teachers in the classrooms.

In the meantime, all the parents and care givers could know the school and its directors a little better. They spent some time together, talking about the school history as well as about day-to-day business. There was Q & R session, as well as a fast walk through the school. It was essential for board members to meet the parents today as we are expecting some opening positions in the board of directors soon. The elections has been set up for September 25th, so there is still time to have all the questions answered. We wanted it to be clear, that we are open and if anybody is interested in volunteering their time, knowledge and experience, they should step up and become the member of the BOD.

However, that was it for today. The first day of the school year of 2021-22 is in the books. We will see everybody next Saturday, when we have our first regular class session starting 11am and ending 1:50pm.