Hogwarts LA

It’s been a fun week. For the third year in a row I was “assistant headmistress” at the local Hogwarts (Harry Potter) one-week vacation school. The school was 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday, plus an overnight Friday night and Saturday morning. There were 34 children from grades 1 through 6, divided into four houses. In addition there were six middle- and high-school leaders… four prefects and a head girl and head boy. The school has been occurring for five years now, and its success is probably best measured by the fact the older students, volunteers all, are eager to come back.

The above picture shows some of the students about to participate in the Triwizard Water Competition, one of the fun activities. These planned activities were a great success, but there was also plenty of “house time”, when the students came up with original projects to present to the whole group. I was really impressed with the teamwork in the houses, which included cheerfully cleaning up when that was required.

It was a delightful combination of structure, creativity and just plain fun. The memory is a precious resource, one which I can use throughout the year if my energy and enthusiasm start to wane.