Los Abanderados

This week I had the opportunity to sit on the ceremonia de los abanderados (ceremony of the flagwearers/bearers). This is equivalent to being #1 on the honor roll in the states. The students with the best GPA from grades 5-7 receive the honor.

It was a nice ceremony; each kid brought a representative (dad or mom), and the 7th-grade abanderado gave a short speech thanking his professors, the school, and his parents.

The most gratifying part was when the 7th-grader’s father got up and also made a speech that he had handwritten beforehand. The man could barely read, and stumbled over every other word—but what he said was written from the heart, and you could tell that he was so very proud of his son for excelling at school. The father probably didn’t even finish primary school, and his son is the best student and about to graduate to high school.

After the speeches, each parent pinned an Ecuadorian flag ribbon onto their child. The 7th grader’s father kissed him on the cheek afterwards and beamed. They both looked so proud. Awesome.

Afterwards, the parents invited the professors (and me) to lunch along with their kids. It was delicious :). I felt like I didn’t deserve to be there, but it was quite an honor.

Tomorrow they will all participate in a parade to celebrate independence day (May 24th). Should be fun.