Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. ~ Marcel Proust

I was thinking about this quote from the French novelist, Marcel Proust today as we all continue to bask in the glow from Kūpuna Day. Kūpuna Day is one of my absolute favorite days on the school calendar, and this year we were fortunate to welcome roughly 150 guests to campus!

One of the things I enjoy about our kūpuna day is that it’s not confined solely to grandparents. In addition to many grandparents, we also hosted parents, grand aunts and uncles, as well as auntys and uncles and family friends. We are excited to open our doors to the many different adults and elders who make a positive impact in the lives of our students.

To start our day, we shared breakfast together while two classes greeted us with a song and a dance.  We then had fun with arts and craft activities. Once we moved to the classrooms, children and kūpuna were engaged in all kinds of fun and interesting activities together. I witnessed kūpuna sharing stories about their school-aged years. Some classes shared a language arts lesson or a morning meeting together. Others did a nature walk and then pressed their findings. Some classes worked in the garden and one class even made silly putty because it was invited during the WWII era, which is what the students are studying in class right now. It was fantastic! I’m not sure who have more fun, the kids or the adults!

Please take a moment and look at some of the photos in the slideshow below.

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To all the kūpuna, I want to echo Proust and say mahalo nui loa for being such charming gardeners in our children’s lives, and for making all of our souls blossom.  

An Extra Note

I wrote this blog post about Kūpuna Day, and then we had the evacuation of campus on Thursday afternoon. And now I’m thinking about Proust’s quote once again – The importance of being grateful for people who make us happy and allow us to thrive.

On Thursday, amid the confusion and anxiety that was swirling for many, we also witnessed many acts of kindness. We saw police officers, military personnel and teachers acting quickly to ensure everyone’s safety. We saw teachers remaining calm and comforting students in a multitude of ways depending on what each child needed — hugs, light conversation or games. We had teachers who were continuing to find kids areas of shade as we waited longer and longer. Teachers escorted students to the bathroom, that our neighbors at the Church were kind enough to open for us. We saw parents embrace their children, who composed themselves as long as possible with their peers but then released an avalanche of emotion upon seeing their parents. I think most heartwarming for me was seeing, and later hearing more about, students helping other students. Because we were in enrichments when the evacuation started, we had some mixed age groupings in class. We witnessed older students helping younger ones get situated and walk outside. Once outside, we had students keeping each other company and supporting their peers.

While Thursday was an unsettling day, it also highlighted the strength of our community. I want to close this post by sharing once again how special I think Assets is and how very grateful I am to be part of our school community.   

With aloha,

Ryan