It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for since August 23rd, 2018: The End of the Year Events. NAI has multiple celebrations to recognize the diversity of the students and to recognize a great year.

The first step is to survive the Keystones, which is just about over for some students.

The first activity has already occurred this past Thursday, May 23rd. This Is Us is the biggest celebration of all. It was started last year, and it has been a huge success since then. It celebrates students different talents and ethnicities and gives them a chance to show their uniqueness which gives NAI the great quality that it has.

May 30th is the Longest Table event. This event celebrates the diversity of ethnicities among the students. Students and their parents sign up to bring a cultural dish from different countries that they have made for everyone who participated in the event. For example, Mrs. Ewing, the principal at NAI, is Irish, so she would contribute with corn beef and cabbage for everyone to taste.

The staff will set up tables in the main hallway of NAI with the cultural treats on the table and participants will walk around the table tasting each dish from different cultures. The goal of Longest Table is to fill the entire hallway with tables of different dishes. The point of this event is for people to experience with different cultures.

Additionally, several students came forward for permission for a sunscreen drive which will take place the last two weeks before summer vacation. It will be competition between homerooms of NAI to see who can donate the most bottles of sunscreen. Each member of the homeroom that donated the most bottles will win a Rita’s Ice party. This is to make sure everyone is safe from the sun this summer while having fun outside enjoying the warmth.

On the official last day of the 2018-2019 school year on June 6th, 2019, there will be many different activities for NAI’s sophomores to participate in. This acts as a special send off for the 10th graders as they transition up to NASH, finishing their two years of grade school before some of them go off to college.

There will also be a retirement ceremony for a teacher and a secretary. Mrs. Dulemba is retiring as a geometry and pre-calculus teacher. Also retiring is Mrs. Travirsari, the school counseling secretary. They will be celebrated at a district level and they were will be a party for staff at NAI to celebrate their careers at North Allegheny.

For the final day of our school year, a game will be held for any sophomores against teachers. It will be held on June 6th during 3rd period and 4th period. Students can sign up during all lunch periods on June 3rd and June 4th.

Behind the scenes in the main office, Mrs. Ewing is already scheduling freshman for their sophomore year for the 2019-2020 school year. She works with the counselors and teachers to figure a schedule that will work best for each freshman transitioning into a sophomore.

As our school year comes to end, Ewing describes it as not “survival mode”, bus as “celebratory mode”.