As 2020 is coming to the end, everyone is preparing to celebrate the New Year and welcome 2021. GZAAT is no exception. As the celebration for the successful completion of the first semester of the academic year and the end of the year, the academy held online grade assemblies. Despite the challenges the students and the teachers faced in adapting to the online platform, the academic year was successful. The main purpose of the assemblies was to highlight these achievements and thank both the faculty and the students for their hard work and support in these uncertain times. The director of the academy, Mr Andres J. Cruz, in response to our questions about his impressions about the assemblies, said: “I think that they were very successful. They went as planned in the sense that they had some basic structure so that they would not be just a “what is going on?” thing. As I am imagined, once the “ice” was broken (online is kind of cold) students improvised their good wishes in a spontaneous way. That was very much appreciated by the teachers and staff. They, like the students, also need appreciation at times.”
On Wednesday, December 23rd, Junior assembly was held. According to the students the atmosphere of the assembly was very comfortable and they felt the class unity and school spirit that has been missing all year due to the online classes. The teachers were welcomed with Thank You notes that all of the attending students held up on their cameras. First, the students introduced and discussed the clubs and extracurricular activities that have taken place this year. These ranged from helping the poor, fighting for gender equality, to creating new clubs.
Helping Hand Project: Girls for Girls: the project with the aim to empower women and discuss their experiences with gender equality. One of the founders, Mariam Beshidze, spoke about the success of the online meetings that the project organized.
The Marmor Club: a political club with the aim to increase the prominence of Georgia in the western world. The club founder, Nikoloz Sharvashidze, discussed the quick success of the club that was created this year. He also mentioned the confusion regarding the name of the club “Marmor”, which means marble in Latin and was chosen as a reference to ancient Greece and Rome.
Photography Club: one of the founders Liza Jariashvili discussed the success of the online platform of the club. She mentioned that in the beginning of the semester the club founders thought that the pandemic would slow down the dynamic of the club, but thankfully, it did not. The Instagram page @gzaat_photography_club has been steadily gaining more following and has remained active all year with new photos from the club members. Liza thanked both the club members for their hard work and the people who follow and support them on social media.
Broadcasting Club: a club with the aim to create an online platform to keep the school spirit alive. The club member, Sali Mosiashvili, discussed the success of the club’s YouTube channel “GZAAT BROADCASTING” and thanked the members for their hard work.
School Culture Committee: one of the members of the committee, Liza Jariahsvili, discussed the activities and events the committee has planned in the online platform. She spoke about choosing the mascot for academy, annual chess tournament, and online lectures by guest speakers. She also spoke about the Peer Tutoring initiative where students help each other improve in various subjects, highlighting the interest of the students and the success of the initiative and thanking all students who volunteered as tutors.
After these brief overviews, the students and the teachers “switched roles”. Instead of the annual tradition of teachers naming their best students, the students picked the teachers they wanted to thank especially. The students themselves showed a great enthusiasm in thanking the teachers for all that they had done throughout this tough year, and further encouraging them to continue doing the incredible work that they have been doing.
As for the last part of the Assembly, with the initiative of the junior vice-president Nikoloz Sharvashidze, the students sang a Happy New-Year song. Even though this endeavour was not very successful, it created a fun ending for the assembly.
Edited by Lika Gegenava
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