Campaign Speech

On Tuesday night Lindsey's speech-writers stayed up into the wee, small hours writing her campaign speech. It is very clever—if I'm allowed to say so, being one of the speech-writers. I'm going post it here for your reading pleasure. But first I'll have to clue you in on some Entheos Academy-specific terms:

Crew—the classes are referred to as "crews" in reference to a poem that says, "we are not passengers, we are crew," meaning that we don't sit around waiting for someone else to do all the work, we pitch-in.
Expedition—a program that includes many field-trips and, in the middle-school, includes a couple of three to five-day campouts for each grade (7th-9th). They also call their main subject of learning their Expedition. So if a class is learning about "the industrialization of food," then every subject—reading, writing, history, even math—centers around the industrializataion of food somehow. (The Industrialization of Food is a real expedition that Ryan's class did this year, by the way.)
Discovery—a twelve-week program that could be anything from scuba-diving to princess camp; gardening to singing. They have three Discovery sessions in a year. The idea is that the kids will discover where their own interests lie.
Pedals for Hope—an annual cancer fundraiser that Entheos students do; this includes a two-month-long Penny War to see which grade can bring in the most pennies to donate, hair donations for Locks of Love, and a 40-mile bike ride.
Doug Miller and Amy are popular teachers at the school, who have been there since Entheos opened.

Here is Lindsey's speech:

"Hi! My name is Lindsey North and I am running for vice president!
Last Christmas I asked Santa for help with my campaign, so he sent me a letter to read to you:"

(At this point she holds up a big, fancy, red envelope, deliberately opens it up, and pulls out a sheet of fancy, green stationery from which she reads the rest of her speech.)

"Dear Entheos,

‘Twas the first day at Entheos and I came to the school;
I met all the teachers and wow! Were they cool!
I love Expedition; Discovery too.
The teachers! The students! Not passengers—they’re crew!

Entheos crews do so many great things;
They celebrate learning, they dance and they sing.
On middle-school campouts the hikes are a killer!
I swear Amy’s backpack’s as big as Doug Miller!

With Pedals for Hope you raise money each year
To help cancer patients and give them some cheer.
You go out on field trips, and fun nature hikes
For great, hands-on learning, which every kid likes.

And so every year students’ brains get so smart
While you work hard together—a crew with a heart.
When Santa sees all of the great things you do here
He wants to fly out with his eight tiny reindeer.

But I am so busy, and can’t come in Spring,
And so Lindsey North is the next greatest thing!
Lindsey is helpful; she’s caring and quick;
If she weren’t a girl you’d think SHE was Saint Nick!

She helps students and teachers—a great volunteer!
If you have a question, she’ll give you her ear.
So when you see my picture up high on the wall,
Choose Lindsey! Choose Lindsey! Go vote for her, all!"

Then she'll say thanks and sit down, I guess. Oh! And she's wearing a Santa hat throughout the assembly (more branding).

I'm going to go to the election assembly this afternoon to cheer for my candidate. I think Lindsey has a really good chance of winning. All the candidates had to practice their speeches yesterday; Lindsey said hers was the only one that rhymed and the only one that included any humor. That's a plus. And Jessica's teacher told Lindsey that she's already won most of the first grade with her Santa posters. We'll see. Speeches today, voting tomorrow, and then the weekend to stew before they announce the new student council on Monday.

Fun stuff!