Written by Amelia Haggstrom ’28

The FIFA World Cup, held every four years, rotates its location and host countries. These have included Russia, Brazil, and South Africa in recent years. The 2026 World Cup will be held in North America (US, Mexico, and Canada). 

And while this year’s 2022 World Cup is being played in the Middle East, Charlotte Latin’s Middle School has this fall hosted a world-class World Cup of its own. 

“This is one of the best things we’ve ever done,” said Middle School Dean of Student Support Tracey Vanneste. Join us to see what she means. Meet the FIFA World Cup [Charlotte Latin] 2022.

Thanks to the power shot thinking of Middle School Spanish teacher Wendy Staffieri — who hails from Argentina — the division’s 29 advisory groups kicked off the festivities with a special assembly in Belk Gym — somewhat akin to an NFL draft. Commissioners Baldecchi, Moore, and Vanneste led the draft, which arbitrarily assigned each advisory one of the 32 participating World Cup countries. 

The excitement was high. Competitive drives soared. Mr. Ballaban announced team rankings as they were called and delivered team flags to advisory representatives. Students left the assembly energized with their first assignment: to decorate their advisor’s classroom door in the theme of the newly-assigned team country. 

Let’s hear about this challenge from Amelia’s perspective: 

I found this project exciting when we learned about it since it was so creative! I was a little afraid that it would gain the intensity of a real sports competition and lose the friendly cooperative quality. But I was met with something that I didn’t expect. On the first day of brainstorming, we were all buzzing with ideas. The excitement grew when everybody came together to make a game plan. All of my advisory contributed and brought so much invention to the table! Everybody had their own ideas to contribute, but we all wanted to hear our teammates out. I realized at that moment we were a team and saw the value of working together. After a few days of kicking the ball around, we came to a unanimous decision and went to work! This project was no hat trick; it was a team effort that included everyone. 

I learned a lot about my advisory during the project. Some people were good at being team captain and making sure everything was completed as well as possible. Others were very artistically gifted and were great at piecing together different parts to realize the final concept in all of its glory. Some people could be a complete goofball in one moment, then somehow snap back into business mode. Everyone had different skills and needed to be stationed on different parts of the field; we were like a team. 

No, we were a team! 

Wow. Amelia, thank you! 

Up next, faculty judges traveled the Middle School globe to review the doors and vote. One judge said it was the “hardest decision” she has ever made. But after this very close race, the five-judge panel determined medalists in the first-ever World Cup Door Decorating Contest. 

On the podium:

Gold Medal: Netherlands (Hawgood)
Silver Medal: Denmark (Cammer)
Bronze Medal: Mexico (Korkowski) 

 

Amelia:

The World Cup brings people from all over the world together to support their teams. This project did the same thing for my advisory: it brought us together with one goal: to share the experience of unity. I didn’t realize at the moment how game-changing this experience was, and I hope to get to know all of my teammates as well as possible by the end of the year.

In soccer, it’s not the best teams that win. It’s the best players who play the best together who win. Being good humans working together in advisory, with solid coaching and loyal fans, who are all bonding around something authentic — it’s the same message. It’s a win-win. And everyone’s engaged, everyone’s watching — like a book club or community read — each day, the Middle School community is abuzz with this fun commonality, this connector. And I venture to guess… they will not soon forget it.