Final thoughts for the 2019 Ski Trip:
If they took full advantage of this year’s ski trip, your children benefitted in multitudinous ways over the last two weeks. Everyone excelled on the slopes but so many polished their skills of courtesy, for example at the dinner table where they quickly moved from a mentality of “French Fries? Gimme!!” to “Can I serve you a plate of goulash?” or “Please, let me take that empty soup dish for you!” Don’t believe us? Ask your child!
They experienced meeting deadlines in various ways, especially for the teacher-led room inspections. Many children took the brave leap of performing “on stage” in class activities for their classmates’ amusement, while others worked behind the scenes to support teachers and classmates alike. For example, this teacher benefitted greatly from an injured top-tier skier who served as “caboose” in our quickly advancing intermediate group, allowing me to give more attention to individual students. Many students even surprised us by showing their appreciation for the various efforts of the teachers, whether serious or silly, sagacious or solace-giving.
Too much space is needed for the different contributions of all the teachers, but two truly warrant mention. Not only is Herr Hoedt our most experienced and effective teacher of the beginning skiers (many “beginners” were enjoying the black slopes by trip’s end!), but he also spent numerous hours taking your children to doctor’s offices or the hospital, often arriving late for dinner after hours of sitting in waiting rooms, keeping your children company.
Both Mr. Lang and Mr. Weiss took a moment at our final dinner to reveal just how much Herr Mueller does for the two weeks we are in Austria (and the months of planning beforehand), offering direction to students and his teacher team alike. Perhaps Mr. Weiss said it best when he described Herr Mueller as the quintessential model for what is great about the Kennedy School and its mission of bringing the two cultures together in mutual understanding. It is not always easy and certainly there are challenges along the way, but the spontaneous and thundering standing ovation offered by the students confirmed their appreciation for him and the outstanding job he did again this year. We are all lucky to be a part of this experience! Thank you for sharing your children with us!
-C. Felt
