Dear Families,
I hadn’t done much hype for Fund Run. I didn’t know what to expect compared to years past and honestly, my expectations were pretty low. But that morning, my first grade son said, “Boy, I’m really feeling nervous this morning.” He wasn’t sure he could run as many laps as he wanted and he was keyed up.
As we pulled into school, we saw a row of cars, all parent volunteers who had arrived before sunrise to start setting up. They were even building a balloon arch of red and white balloons. Music was already pumping and the energy hit me like a wave.
In my classroom, I laid each child’s t-shirt on their desk. It had been carefully folded with their name tag by parent volunteers a few days before. When the students came in, they ran to their desks like it was loaded with a pile of birthday presents. Everyone wanted to put on their new shirts right away. Again, their excitement surprised and energized me.
All morning, we waited for our class’s turn to run. The music on the field filled our room and it was hard to keep our minds on our other tasks. All any of us wanted to do was watch the other classes and cheer them on.
At last, it was our turn. We went out to the field and Cassi led us in a few simple stretches. The kids were lit up like fireworks. They all gathered around the starting line and were off like a shot! A few pulled ahead right away, others fell behind, but everyone was rooting for each other. One student was flustered by her start and her eyes filled with tears. I hugged her and she took a deep breath, shook it off and kept going.
Every single kid was giving it their all. The parents around them were cheering, waving sparkly red pom poms, and taking photos. Other students gathered on the field at recess and cheered “Go Miss Kazana’s Class! Go Second Grade! You’ve got this!”
My eyes filled with tears. For just a minute, it was like the pandemic hadn’t happened and I realized the tremendous weight we have all been carrying. Parents, staff, and students too.
We need to cheer for each other. We need to feel connected. We need to know we are helping our school as much as our school helps us.
For me this year, Fund Run did that. Yes, it looked different than it has before. But it served a purpose much larger for the spirit of my students and the lucky parents and staff that were able to see it. It made us remember that we are all in it together, and we are all better when we each do our part.
Thank you to the amazing Parent Teacher Association for creating and leading an effort that required no extra work to me as a classroom teacher and delivered such a huge benefit to all of us.
Please remember to start collecting the funds your student raised. The donations can be returned to school in the manilla envelope provided. The due date is January 20th. Thank you for your generosity and support in such a challenging time. I’m so honored to be part of this community.
Aloha,
Becky Kazana
Mahalo to Cassi Vigil Alip, Maki Morinoue, Erin Detwiler and Rebecca Colvin for stepping in to lead this effort for Parent Teacher Association. Mahalo Viv Cavegas from our own class and Sarah Teehee for delivering t-shirts, cheering on students, set up and clean up. Mahalo Joy Paul and Brooke Gabriel for keeping our staff informed of plans and logistics. And Mahalo to our students for running strong and our families for supporting our school in thick and thin.