In a world full of negativity, can we talk – Middle School?  No, seriously. Middle School.  You know, the large institutional type building where during the week, attempts are made to educate people who are suspended somewhere between childhood and adulthood.  Everything is in flux, from their hormones to their vocal cords, one minute needing the adults in their life, the next telling the adults to stop treating them like kids.  It’s confusing for everyone involved.

The media headlines anymore are ridiculous, constantly bombarding us with all the horrendous things people can and will do to each other.  It can make you think that there is nothing good in the world anymore, but I can tell you that there is plenty of good and it’s right there in of all places, Middle School. 

I will tell you that it takes a special breed of adult to teach middle school.  I am not one of that special breed.  But the people I know who teach this group of young people are some of the most energetic, passionate people I’ve ever met.  It takes a certain combination of sarcastic wit and the willingness to do just about anything (like dye your hair blue) to develop trusting relationships.  Add a love for music and a passion for sharing that love and you end up with a Middle School music teacher.

Yesterday I spent the day at one of the local high schools where they were hosting a 7^th grade Middle School Vocal Festival.  Students from all of the middle schools attended the day long event, culminating in a concert last night.  7^th grade is the epitome of the middle school student I spoke of.  One moment a child, the next a young adult, and I saw a little of both.  But these are music students, students who are taught how to work together, to listen and follow directions and so the morning rehearsal apparently went well.  Then it was time for lunch.

The lunch area was an interesting space.  Folding tables and chairs in a long, thin area of the building with a trophy case on one side and a bank of windows looking in on a pool and bleachers on the other.  Students had left bagged and boxed lunches on the tables in anticipation of their noon break.  You could have heard them coming a mile away, over a hundred students walking from the stage to this space, a space that didn’t really have enough room for them.

In full musician fashion however, the students improvised and adapted to their space.  They grabbed extra chairs, squashing together as close as possible around tables and sat in small groups on the floor.  I heard please and thank you from around the room. There were the loners, like the girl who found a tiny space on the floor among the plants, the two besties who sat together at the end of the table, making commentary about their classmates through their facial expressions to each other, and the big groups of students all talking at the same time. Teachers grabbed their sandwich orders and, rather than find a place away from their students, sat among them. I watched the animation on their faces, the conversations striking up genuine laughter from both teachers and students. For thirty minutes, there was food, conversation, occasional singing and lots of laughter from giggly girls and silly boys. It. Was. Magical.  Soon lunch was over and everyone worked together to clean things up and put things away before they headed back to rehearsal.  Yes, there were some random carrots here and cheese sticks there, but they did pretty well.  Then, as music teachers are apt to do, once students were settled in their rehearsal space once again, they all worked together to finish the job, stacking folding chairs, throwing away trash and picking coats up off the floor.

As I sat observing as much as I could, hoping I could find a way to put this experience into meaningful words, my friend and I talked about all the negative, insane news there is in the world today, and how everyone should experience something positive like this.  There is good in the world, places where caring adults teach young people how to work together in harmony, meeting new friends through the medium of music.  It was a place where people from different walks of life worked together towards a common goal and were successful in their efforts.  They celebrated the occasion together, cheering for their teachers and each other.  This kind of thing doesn’t make the news of course because it’s not sensationalism, but it is sensational nonetheless.  The ordinary made extraordinary, and, as cliché as it may sound, a good memory these students, teachers and families won’t soon forget.