Hannah Ney, '07

back: Whitney Gibbs, Elaine Ropp, Kristin Davis, Laura Hochstetler; front: Keilah Brokaw, Rachel Schrock

2007 graduate Hannah Ney, daughter of Kathryn and Randall Ney, currently teaches 1^st grade at Church Rock Academy in Gallup, New Mexico in the Teach for America program. The students in Hannah’s classroom needed warm coats, hats, mittens, and scarves by early November when the weather turned cold and wintry. In Hannah’s IMS years, she was in Mary Forney’s small group and remembered different service projects the group did together. After contacting Mary, her current Small Group collected items and sent them to Hannah’s class before Christmas. Pictured are the small group girls and the colorful thank you notes from Hannah’s students.

Student small groups and their faculty sponsors took today’s Small Group time to decorate IMS for the holidays. Celebration Hall, the library, individual classrooms, and the foyer now boast Christmas trees, lights, and tinsel.

During Chapel on Monday, Pam Gerig Unruh used the un-preparedness of Mary and Joseph upon hearing the news of approaching parenthood, to challenge us to find moments to prepare for Christ’s coming during this Advent season.

Cutting out the pants from the bandana.

Ranee sewing the pants together.

The girls in Ranee Brokaw’s small group worked together on a project making pants out of bandanas. The idea came originally from the book, Craft Hope by Jade Sims which is a book of many projects that can be made and sent to people in need for different causes. Ranee shares, “My friend, Beth Swartzendruber, was planning a trip to Rwanda with a group from Compassion International. When she was preparing to go, she shared with our Bible Study group that she could take along items to give to the children there. This project was something I had been wanting to do but wasn’t sure where I would send them. Then, when Beth told me about her trip, I decided it would be a great small group project. The girls purchased the materials and helped cut and pin the pants, then I sewed them and delivered them to Beth so she could take them to Rwanda. It was a such a rewarding experience to see the boys wearing the pants and to hear the story about how much they truly needed them!”

The lucky recipients of the bandana pants!

As small groups met today, one group continued the idea of “anonymously” doing something nice for the student body. This group wrote every student’s name plus an adjective that describes them onto a package of M & M’s. For example, Sweet Sam, Kind Kristin, Confident Cody, Tremendous Taylor, Charming Chance, Thoughtful Tamara …. you get the idea!