Why do all good things come to an end?

We cannot believe that our initiative has come to an end. We are overwhelmed with emotions and are so grateful for the opportunities we have had to work with youth here in Belize. To recap week 6, Mo and Avery finished up their lessons on sexual health and depression at Sadie Vernon High School. For their final classes they played a huge game of jeopardy covering all the topics that were taught. It was so amazing to see how much the kids had retained from our lessons and a very fun way to end off our time with them. We will miss their endless energy and their crazy questions. A big thanks to the guidance counsellor Ms. Pitzold and the rest of the staff for making us feel so welcome. Laura and Kieran had another energetic and fun week at Maud Williams High School. It was very fun to end lessons with a closing jeopardy on mental health as they were able to see how much their students had learned. The students at Maud Williams were so friendly and we made strong connections with many of them. They especially loved Kieran's new do (see picture!). It was hard to say goodbye to their guidance counsellor Ms. Crawford, and a big thanks to the principal Ms. Castillo for welcoming us into their school. Although we were there to teach the students, we definitely learned just as much from them. It was very hard to say goodbye to our close group of students at the Gateway Youth Center. We wrapped up our time with some very fun goal setting and self esteem lessons which ended our lessons on a very promising note. We are so proud of the aspirations they shared with us, and a huge credit is due to the Gateway Youth Center itself for offering the students this opportunity. All four of us spent our final afternoon of initiative at the YWCA. We planned an outreach afternoon in which we all made paper mâché ornaments. Next week, the girls will paint them to represent each persons' values, and they will be hung up at the YWCA to represent how all individuals come together as a community. We shared some amazing last moments with these girls, who never fail to put a smile on our face every time we saw them. Another hard goodbye was with Ms. Deadra, who runs the positive development program at the YWCA. She was an incredible role model to both us and all the girls at the YWCA and inspired us all to continue working with youth in the future. This morning we met with the Ministry of Education to discuss our experiences in the classrooms and to exchange ideas about what the Belize initiative will look like moving forward in years to come. This was a great way to close our time here, and we are thankful to have this partnership with the ministry in order to strengthen our he sustainability of the QHO Belize initiative. A huge thank you to everyone who supported us through this amazing adventure. We appreciate being welcomed not only into our schools but in the communities and culture of Belize, as it truly has so much to share!!! We are not ready to say goodbye to all the friendly smiles, not to mention our daily rice & beans. Lastly, our outmost thanks goes to our fearless program director Nicole. Her level head and selfless nature carried us through this entire initiative. With full hearts, The secondary teamMo, Laura, Avery and Kieran