Roller Coaster Night lays a fantastic foundation for our sixth grade students and their families. The learning, the fellowship, the struggle, the celebration - each represent the journey these young minds will take over the next seven years. I absolutely love the “generations” of Redskins who were present tonight and last night for this endeavor. I saw babies literally sitting in boxes as their big brothers and sisters created simple and complex roller coasters. I saw elementary students’ eyes connect and shine as their older siblings mastered the looping beast of cardboard and plastic on the cafeteria table. I saw freshman and sophomore football players proudly dressed in red jerseys cheering as the marbles twisted and turned and rolled into cups; the high-fives and hoops and hollars filled the cafetorium with a remarkable amount of unmatchable Union pride. I saw juniors and seniors walking around with tape, cleaning tables and encouraging the sixth grade babies. I heard a few of them comment that they didn’t get to do anything as cool as this when they were sixth graders! I saw smiles filled with self-assurance, and I witnessed parents and children hugging as the design and the function of their creation looped and turned, bounced and flew until they finally culminated with a marble in a cup. Velocity and friction were definitely demonstrated tonight and second only to persistence and ingenuity- the kind of ingenuity that kids have when a caring, committed adult supports and nurtures them.
Best of all, I saw our family, the Redskin family, committed to the idea of learning, of failing, and trying again and then celebrating together - young and old- at what our hands can do when we reach out to be all in - when we #believe.
So thankful for the Sixth and Seventh Center's staff continued to commitment to learning and providing relevant, thought-provoking experiences that say to our kids, “You are worthy.”
No better way to #golighttheworld