After 9 years in the City of Knowledge, we spent the week saying goodbye. Trucks pulling in and out, and workers all through the building. With each day that passed, the building got a little bit emptier. We raised the flag on Monday. Then lowered it and packed it away safely for its trip to Green Valley. We heard some poignant memories and reflections from those members of our family who have been here since Day One in August 2011.
We joined in with the City of Knowledge with a small MET delegation, to be a part of the annual “Siembra de Banderas” and then received a lovely farewell gift from them that you will see below – a photo that will hang in the new MET for years to come, as a beautiful reminder of the early years.
And then we welcomed more than 400 members of the MET community for a final walk through the famous Tunnel, a symbolic passage from the past to the future, and also a chance for each one to leave their mark on the wall as if to say “We Were Here!” As the week came to a close, this chapter in the MET story had concluded.
When we get back from the Fiestas Patrias break, we will begin to settle into our amazing new campus, unpacking and begin setting up. We will put into place all of our systems and protocols for Health and Safety, and complete our plan for “Semi-Presential” learning that we are hoping can begin in February of 2021.
New days and a new year are ahead. We are all looking forward to better times when we can look back on the pandemic and know that we got through it, and that we got stronger.
I thank this whole MET community for your spirit and commitment. I wish you all the very best for these fiestas patrias, and hope that we all have a fitting celebration in this most important month in Panama.
Really and truly, I cannot wait to see you all! More than anything I cannot wait to see MET kids, live and in person, in the new building and with new hope for the future.
Daniel McKee
Head of School
Metropolitan School of Panama
