The Dieringer Heights Elementary Cougars kicked off their 13th annual Walk-A-Thon by literally surrounding their campus in good thoughts.
Every spring near the end of the academic year, students collect food donations and walk the circumference of the east Tapps primary school for 90 minutes. Thursday marked the first year the event incorporated Rachel’s Challenge.
Rachel’s Challenge is a national campaign to end bullying, based on the writings of Columbine High School shooting victim Rachel Joy Scott.
A quote used by the Rachel’s Challenge website reads: “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.”
Every student in every class wrote down a kind sentiment about another person in their life on a piece of construction paper. The sentiments were linked together into a paper chain, the sheer length of which proved too long for the campus building alone.
“When you saw (the chain) hanging in the hall it was like ‘wow,'” Principal Kevin Anderson said, speaking to the students congregated on the west end of the campus. “But when you saw it all in a pile in the hallway, it was ‘Holy Simoleons!'”
Construction of the chain began from the first day of the school year and kept growing from there, fifth grade teacher Terry Steiner said. Students additionally incorporated common devices of Rachel’s Challenge to foster a welcoming school culture, such as a “door greeters” who welcome their individual peers onto campus as they begin their day.
“Kids don’t always understand the importance of what they’re doing, but I tell them to look at their parents and the look on their faces as they walk out,” Steiner said.
Food donations collected this year went to the Bonney Lake and Sumner food banks so students would know they were helping their home community, Anderson said.
Thursday also marked the birthday of Kindergarten teacher Isobel Goodchild. Goodchild retires this summer after 35 years educating children. The student body sang the tearful teacher “Happy Birthday” before commencing their walk.
