When
I found out I would be placed out here in Maryland County, everyone told me
that Pleebo was a big site and that our school was one of many in our
community. Sure enough, Pleebo High
School is one of seven high schools in and around Pleebo. Though there are many schools in this
community, our high school is one of the largest and liveliest. It is also only a five-minute walk from our
house, which makes our “commute” one of the easiest around!
On
any given day, I estimate around 500 students are attending Pleebo High. The school runs in the afternoon, which means
Sarah and I get to campus around 12:00 and leave around 5:00-6:00 pm each
night. There are four sections of tenth
grade, three sections of eleventh grade, and three sections of twelfth grade,
and the campus is always buzzing with students.
In
almost all of Liberia’s schools, students are required to wear a uniform to
school. At our high school, that uniform
is maroon trousers or skirts and a white collared shirt with a Pleebo High
School patch. Black shoes complete the
outfit, and if you’re in twelfth grade, you wear a black neck tie.
Six
class periods are in a normal day, with each period being 40 minutes. There is also a 30-minute recess period after
third period, which is often filled with us tutoring our students or answering
questions about the homework we are be collecting that day. Classes at our school are a little shorter
than in other schools around Liberia, and I credit this to the fact that our
campus is used for three different schools.
Pleebo Elementary School & Jr. High runs in the morning, our high
school is in the afternoon, and the Extension school is in the evening.
With
so many students using our campus, we are often times limited in
resources. For example, many of the
chairs our students sit in are “spoiled,” whether that means they are missing
the desk portion or are on the verge of falling apart. Some of the classrooms that hold tenth
graders are full of strictly bench seats, which makes quizzing and examinations
difficult. Additionally, the some of the
blackboards are in disrepair which can make writing notes a tedious process.
For
all of the things that give us a hard time, however, there are plenty of good
things as well :) We are fortunate to have the only library in Pleebo on our
campus, and it has so many great resources for our students. We are rallying to get some more science
books, but we are blessed with a multitude of math, literature, and geography
books that many of our students are utilizing!
(Sarah and I are looking into a possible renovation of our library, as
well, so watch for updates on that at some point.)
Another
wonderful asset of our school is our administration. Our principal, Charles, and the Vice
Principal for Instruction, Sam, have been great resources for us as we get
settled into our community and into the school year. They are willing to listen to suggestions
from us and Sam is always willing to answer the many questions I seem to have
about why things are being done a specific way.
Overall, our administration is very active in the happenings of the
school, and I think that their leadership contributes to the overall morale of
the school.
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| Hallway leading to eleventh and tenth grade classrooms |
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| Hallway heading to tenth grade wing & library |
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| Library |
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| Library |
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| A view of the school from the road |
Though
there are things that we would love to change about our school, and though
there are resources we are still missing, I feel very blessed to be a teacher
in this community. My students make my
job an easy one (most days), and I can’t imagine myself being anything other
than a Pleebo Eagle.
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