May is perhaps the most exciting month of the year. It begins with a holiday and somewhere between May 8 and 14, you’ve got Mother’s Day—the day which in the U.S. accounts for the heaviest phone traffic of the year. May is also the gateway to summer—a door held only slightly ajar to be sure, so that it can be slammed shut against hard rains or a late snow, or thrown wide open to let the sun and a late day zephyr float in.

Yet, it’s exciting for another reason. May is the “I CAN’T BELIEVE” month.

Without fail, I would bet the farm that every May you utter the words, “I can’t believe…” finishing the sentence in a variety of ways.

It’s in May that you might say:

I can’t believe … it’s May already
I can’t believe … we only have 14 days of school left
I can’t believe … my kid is graduating in 10 days
I can’t believe … I haven’t gone stark raving mad (teachers)
I can’t believe … I’m finally getting outta here (seniors)

These comments are often coupled with “It-was-only-yesterday” statements.

It was only yesterday … that my child was 9-years old, and now she’s going to university
It was only yesterday … that I was home for Christmas
It was only yesterday … that I was applying to colleges and universities
It was only yesterday … that I was getting my classroom ready for the school year

Well, believe it.

It’s May and the 2009-2010 school year is winding down and soon will be but another year in the storied history of this venerable, almost 100-year old, institution known as Shanghai American School.

Here are some things you can believe:

This year your child has done 600-1000 hours of homework, maybe more
This year your child has had about 500 hours of classroom instruction
This year SAS students have eaten about 5,000 pieces of pizza, a couple tons of dumplings, and enough Shanghai noodles if stretched noodle to noodle to reach the International Space Station and back seven times
Every year SAS students are the best
This year, SAS is graduating its largest class of seniors ever

This issue of The Eagle again bears witness to the “unbelievable” nature or character of our students, our teachers, our parents, our support staff and our administrators. Top notch every one.

It’s been a great “I can’t believe” year for all of us at Shanghai American School.

—Timothy Merrill, Editor, The Eagle

eagle@eagleonline.org