On Thursday, May 15th the SOHO program officially came to a close with our final night: a beautiful mixture of friends, family and community. All of the big and little sisters attended along with their families and close friends. Staff from the girl’s school, Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School, came -- along with mentors and program supporters from years past. Together we all celebrated the amazing experiences and relationships formed during the big and little sisters time at SOHO this year.
We had the celebration in our Dominion Room her at VisArts. The walls showed off the girls photography from their sessions with artist and instructor, Liana. A table near the front was covered with framed photos of big and little sister pairs – each person was able to walk away with a photo to take home. Flowers were on each table along with games. The girls were especially excited to see their “I am” word bubbles in the back of the room above their take-home gifts (filled with journals and fun art supplies).
The room filled up and dinner began. Thanks to We Cook Caterers for cooking such wonderful food. We had a family-style barbeque dinner followed by a potluck dessert with dishes brought in by mentors and their families.Then, it was time for the ceremony itself.
Lead teacher Tesni Stephen got up in front of the crowd and introduced a few folks to speak: Mike Maruca from AJCES and Jordan Roeder from VisArts. Mike talked about the program and how meaningful it has been for his students while Jordan talked abouts ome of the fun changes we were able to make happen this year in SOHO. Tesni then took over and began thanking all of those folks who were important to us this year: guest artists, VisArts gallery director Caroline Wright, Bounce’s Ann Deaton and so many more.
Then it was time for each big and little sisters to speak. One by one, each big sisters was called up the front. As they came up, Tesni read off words that their little sister had used to describe them – things like funny, sweet, kind, smart, understanding. Each big sisters was given the chance to say something about their experience and took a flower from Jordan and Liana. Meanwhile, little sisters pateintly listened…but cheered loudly at every name being called.
When all the mentors stood in front of the crowd, it was the little sisters turn. They too heard words that their big sister had used to describe them, received a flower, and had a chance to speak. There were a lot of smiles and a lot of tears. A final thank you, followed by a bow and applause finished the ceremony. Afterwards, everyone munched on dessert and watched the slideshow Tesni had created especially for this night. The video shows all of what we’ve accomplished this year at SOHO, photos of each pair, projects we completed, people we met and places we went. There were a lot of laughs, claps and tears throughout.
After the video, some of our guests made their goodbyes. The big and little sisters along with SOHO teachers and staff stayed behind to do the final closing circle. Everyone crossed arms and linked hands and said one last thing that they were thankful for during their time at SOHO. The night finished with one last cheer for SOHO along with a lot of hugs and high fives and see-you-soon’s.
Many of our big and little sisters will stay in touch long beyond the ends of the program. We’ll keep you updated on things that big and little sisters do over the summer!
Thanks to Plaza for helping us make our gift bags possible!
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