Lustre News

High winds and sudden rains impeded harvest efforts this week. We got 4/10 of an inch on Tuesday, in time for buses to go on muddy roads for their first day of school. The temps were in the 90s.

Wednesday, Aug. 21, the schools began with a good enrollment, 42 students in Lustre Grade School and 36 in Lustre Christian High School. I doubt that many of the grade school students were too excited to start school, and the kindergarten through grade two gave a hearty “NO” to my question if they were glad to be at school.

“Mr. Ed”, as he has the students call him, is from Quinayangan, near Luzan, in Quezon province of the Philippines. His English is very good. He learned of the position open at Lustre from Prince Agbisit, who are childhood friends. He is looking forward to seeing his first snow and said he has taught in a farming community five years in the Philippines and three years in a larger central school where he had 30 students in his class. He has seven siblings, five brothers and two sisters. He said, “I came in the middle of the night on the plane July 26 and it was cold!” He notes a lot of adjustments in weather and culture, and even curriculum. In the Philippines a teacher is given only the teacher’s manual and student books. No equipment or laptop, no teaching aids. There, these all must be provided by the teacher, expecting them to be creative, so he was very thankful for what LGS provided for him. Our kindergarten through grade two teacher is Maryke Nell, who came July 25 with her husband and two boys, Marcus and Christiaan from Pretoria, South Africa. Matthyser knew of her availability and she is “delighted and glad to be teaching here at LGS.” She is the oldest of her immediate family and has two younger brothers.

The opening program for the LCHS was at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25.

Another storm came Thursday up north by Farmers with an inch and 7/8 of rain hampering harvest.