Eleanor Skillen Students Deliver Bags of Cheer

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Dec. 16, 2016

There were 150 students, who were joined
by festive chaperones, to complete the day of service on behalf of Eleanor
Skillen. The school strives throughout the year to show our community that they’re
the “nicest school in town” — which is in line with the school’s motto: Choose
Kindness.

They all agreed that delivering “Bags of
Cheer” to people would be a great way to celebrate the holiday season and
spread some kindness in our community.

All 500 students of Eleanor Skillen were
involved in the process of creating these Bags of Cheer. Each grade level played
an important role in creating goodie bags to share with our neighbors:

• Sixth-grade
  students decorated paper bags.
• Fifth-grade
  students made snowflake decorations.
• Fourth-graders
  created reindeer ornaments.
• Third-grade classes
  crafted beaded candy canes.
• Second-grade
  students packaged hot cocoa mix – complete with marshmallows.
• First-graders made
  gingerbread decorations.

Kindergarten
classes included “reindeer food” (oats and edible glitter!) to leave in the
yard for Rudolph and friends.

With a total of 200 bags, student
representatives from each grade boarded buses and headed downtown to bring
smiles to their new friends. The excursion began on Monument Circle, where
students stopped in several businesses to share Bags of Cheer with employees
and customers.

After a quick stop for a group photo at
the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, the students and chaperones headed to Circle
Centre Mall. They hit every floor of the shopping center, ensuring store
employees, shoppers and mall staffers received some holiday fun and a cheerful
greeting.

Adults were delighted by the festive
visitors. You could hear exclamations across the mall including, “What a fun
surprise!” … “I really needed this today!” … and “This is so sweet!”

Eleanor Skillen staff members who
organized the inaugural Bags of Cheer event said they wanted students to learn
the importance of giving to others. As part of this learning experience, it was
important that students take part in the actual giveaways to see the impact a
random act of kindness can have on other people.

The message clearly got through to one
second-grade student, who summed up the purpose of the day for all: “I like
this a lot because I feel like Santa!”