On Wednesday, December 11, 2019, ETA Joseph “Joe” Janik Miller participated in student-led efforts to celebrate the end of examinations and to kick off the holiday season.

The Intra School Student Organization at SMAN 1 (National High School 1) Padangsidimpuan, abbreviated as “OSIS,” organized basketball, soccer, and volleyball tournaments among the classes at school. There are nine or ten classes of 36 students in the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades. Each class has its own room, studies all subjects together, and places student representatives on OSIS. Two students in the eleventh grade were selected by the student body to head the Organization.

After competitions wrapped up for the day at school, Joe attended a Christmas celebration for Christian high school students in Padangsidimpuan, organized by students and teachers at SMAN 1, which featured traditional and contemporary dancing, music, and singing. People in Padangsidimpuan predominately practice Islam, but many practice Buddhism, Catholicism, Hinduism, and various Protestant faiths. About 20 percent of the school’s students and teachers attended the service. Joe was grateful to see students in high spirits after two weeks of examinations.

Joseph “Joe” Janik Miller is currently teaching at SMAN 1 Padangsidimpuan, North Sumatra.