Star of the week

Each week in Samantha's 3rd grade class, one child is named "star of the week". This week was Samantha's turn. As star of the week the child has to create a poster or display about themselves, and the parents submit a short essay or writeup about their child, which is read to the class. Here's what I wrote about Sam:

There are many words that come to mind when I think about how to describe Samantha. Sam is bright and curious, funny and fierce, compassionate and loving. She can be stubborn and opinionated, hard-working and dedicated, helpful, lazy, sensitive, energetic, solitary, friendly, and shy. But my favorite word for Samantha has to be “fearless”.

All her life Samantha has been eager to learn and do new things. Whether it’s gymnastics when she was three, rock-climbing at five, swim lessons and summer swim team at the Y, math club, cheerleading, drama, dance, horseback riding, Brownies, sewing or cooking with her mom, skiing, Hebrew school, or just playing Wii at home, Samantha dives into things with both feet and her whole heart.

It’s easy for parents to think of their children as young and inexperienced, not able to do much on their own. But young and inexperienced doesn’t mean incapable, as Sam reminds me constantly. Every week I watch her tack up a horse that’s twice as tall as she is then climb on his back and trot him around the ring for an hour before leading him back to the barn to untack him, groom him, and clean his hooves. Her confidence and ability on horseback is something to see, and I think “This is something that most adults can’t do, but that Samantha is completely comfortable with.”

Samantha’s Hebrew name is Simcha Ganit -- Simcha is the Hebrew word for “joy” and Ganit is Hebrew for “garden”. When Samantha was born we had no idea how much that name would turn out to fit her, but it certainly does. She loves to garden and grow vegetables in the yard, and she practically glows when she’s digging in the dirt or hiking through the woods. Sam has always loved animals -- she’s ridden an elephant, fed a giraffe, hugged a goat, been drenched by an orca, and scolded a camel for looking the wrong way at her lollipop.

Through it all she’s been our garden of joy, and as we’ve watched her learn and grow and gain new skills and confidence with each passing year, we could not possibly be prouder of her.

I'm told that her classmates were amazed at all of the things she's done in her life. Looking at them all listed out like that, I am too. She has many more opportunities than a lot of kids get, and I hope that she makes the most of them.