At each Rejoice School of Ballet class, teachers take attendance and reward points to students for dressing out and participating in class. Every other month, the points are tallied and students with 80% of the total available points are invited to participate in a rewards party.
Saturday, February 21, students were treated to a party at West End Community Church where they spent time in a hip hop dance session:
After learning a hip hop dance, students wrote a letter to Michelle, Sasha or Malia Obama telling them about Rejoice and had a cookie from Rainforest Cafe. Below are excepts from some of the student letters:
"Dear First Lady Obama, You are a true, inspiring role model to young ladies everywhere....I love the way you help and support your husband, President, Obama, through whatever he is going through."
"Dear Mrs. Michelle Obama, Thank you for being who you are you are a great woman who is strong and confident about your choices....I pray for you every day."
"Dear First Lady Obama, My favorite thing about Rejoice is that it is very good training. When I dance I feel proud."
"Dear First Lady Obama, I feel really happy when I am dancing. I would like to dance for you, because I think it would move your heart."
One reason Rejoice hosts rewards parties is to allow students from different classes an opportunity to get to know each other. It was exciting on Saturday to get to see students from three Rejoice sites play together, dance together and laugh together.
Thank you to West End Community Church for hosting the party, Rainforest Cafe for providing our snack, Shayna Rogers of Fellowship School of Dance for teaching the hip hop class and Kerry Leach of Junior League for volunteering her time to help!