Epiphany School hosts first Second Grade Summit

New friendships were made and Epiphany School’s community expanded during its fifth annual Day of Caring on May 3.

The newest addition to the event was the first Second Grade Summit, which brought together students from Bush School, the Valley School, Madrona Elementary and St. Therese Catholic Academy at Epiphany School to participate in team-building exercises and color kindness rocks.

Anne Balicki, Epiphany School’s lower division head, had the idea for the summit. She said it was a great way to build community and allow second-graders to connect in a positive way that lays the groundwork for thinking about how to come together as a greater society as they get older.

“Every year we’d like to host it,” Balicki said.

Students from the surrounding schools walked over to the Madrona campus on May 3, where they sat in circles and worked out what community means to them. After that they were given rocks to decorate as kindness rocks, with inspirational messages and artwork that they would later leave for someone along the way home. The intention was to brighten their day.

“I’m putting on a rainbow. It’s really cool,” said D’Anglea Carter, a Madrona Elementary second-grader. “Kindness means to me, it’s sharing and caring.”

St. Therese student Nicole Williams also put a rainbow on her rock. She met Carter earlier in the day.

“I just talked to her and we just made friends,” Williams said.

“That’s how easy it is to make friends,” Carter said.

Faculty and staff made kindness rocks at the beginning of the school year, said Epiphany head of school Jenn Elkin, and second-graders at the private school helped host the May 3 summit. Before they left, the students wrote their names on the blankets they’d been sitting on during the summit, which will be added to during future events, Elkin said.

“I think within a few days everyone said yes,” she said of getting all of the schools to participate, “and it was amazing how fast everyone came together.”

Learn more about kindness rocks at thekindnessrocksproject.com. Fisher Fair Scones provided sweet snacks during the summit.