Go Knights!

Here it is -- the American Community School of Beirut -- the reason why we are here and the place where we spend almost of all of our time.

Presbyterian missionaries founded ACS in 1905, back when the Ottoman Empire still controlled what would become Lebanon. The school originally educated the children of faculty working at the American University of Beirut. As the American presence grew in the Middle East, so did ACS. After World War II, ACS had to accommodate the children of State Department officials and oil company employees working in Saudi Arabia. By the 1960's, ACS had built its present campus, complete with student boarding, a gym, and classes for grades K-12.

Everything changed when the civil war broke out in the mid-1970's. As Americans and Europeans fled, ACS enrollment shrunk and became predominantly Lebanese. By the late 1980's, the graduating classes at ACS numbered in the single digits.

But the school survived! Thanks to our Lebanese colleagues who have been working here since the early 1990's, enrollment steadily grew, academics improved, and now the school is considered the best in Lebanon.

The campus is a maze of three 4 story buildings, a gym, two auditoriums, and pockets of courtyards for students to hang out in. It has an urban feel with a few gigantic trees providing shade from the Mediterranean sun. Because of all of this, the campus is not really conducive to scenic pictures. Here's a shot of the main driveway going up to the "High School" Building which houses the Middle School (don't ask).

Here is a shot of the cafeteria. Like Lebanese traffic and politics, lunch at ACS is chaos that usually works.

Here is Megan in front of the actual High School, reminding students that it is 8:02 a.m. and that class began at 8:00. One of Megan's main duties as Dean of Students is to keep track of tardies and to hold students accountable once they reach that 5 tardies per week threshold.

Here is Megan during lunch, one of the few times during the day that she can find students to let them know she's keeping an eye on their tardy record. Megan also deals with discipline referrals - when a teacher can't control a student's behavior, the student has to go to Dean Morris' office.

Megan is as tough as nails but enforces discipline with a smile on her face.

Wade, on the other hand, isn't afraid to lose his cool with the students (this is a reenactment). In all seriousness, it's fun to go across half the world to find that teenagers are pretty much the same everywhere. This fifth floor spot has one of the best views on campus. Students can sit here and watch the Mediterranean tide, contemplating their Phoenician roots and how to turn their deep thoughts into a five paragraph essay.

This is one of Wade's 9th grade classes researching whether or not the Spanish Conquistadors should be convicted of "Crimes Against Humanity" - post mortem, of course.

While Megan is busy running the school, Wade stays busy coaching the JV Girls Volleyball team.

Coaching Lebanese girls is 10 times easier than American boys. Generally speaking, they hustle just as much, listen twice as well, and only have half the ego of their male counterparts across the Atlantic.