Unclaimed children…

Well, not actually unclaimed children, so much as unclaimed children’s names. ¶  At the start of this school year, I assigned english names to the list of nearly-400 korean students I was supposedly going to teach. Where each class was alloted thirty-nine or forty students, that number was eventually whittled down to thirty-six before the first day of classes were held.  ¶  In the whirlwind of learning the ropes at a new school, and trying to learn the 360 claimed names, I forgot about the others…until now.  ¶  As I was updating my class files with new rosters this morning, I came across the unclaimed names, and am saddened to see that they were some of the best. While it’s possible that some students could be shuffled in, and others out during this semester (something that happened only once in the spring), I think it is appropriate to have a reading of those unclaimed children, followed by a moment of silent remembrance:  ¶  Mack, Nickel, Mister, Nopel, Theo, Ollie, Batz, Soren, Burton, Melvin, Vandy, Gibbs, Flint, Tulsa, Skaggs, Poe, Knowles, Picard, Petty, Matthis, Harlan, and Steadman.  ¶  May you never be forgotten!