Celebrating friends at BWF

Circle of Friends week was recently celebrated at Brookwood Forest Elementary. Each day during morning broadcast, students recited the Circle of Friends pledge: “I pledge to practice and teach understanding, patience, tolerance and inclusion of other students who may have visible or invisible challenges.”

Kerry Stein, the father of third-grader Katherine Stein, talked with preschool and K-2 students about being visually impaired whiled owning a business. He read a Braille book and passed out cards that had the Braille alphabet on them. Additionally, athletes from the Lakeshore Foundation shared at an assembly for grades 3-6.

Morning broadcasts that week featured “The Most Inspiring Act of Kindness,” “The Two AJ’s,” “Ben Underwood living without his sight” and “ABC interview with Bob Lujano - No arms, no legs, no excuses!”  

Other celebration opportunities included simulation stations conducted by Ashley Eldridge, special book selections in the library and classroom discussions of the Circle of Friends pledge. Students also discussed ideas from Big Words for Little People by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell, which discusses how “Different means nobody’s the same. All bodies are different and so are all brains. Different is what makes this world so great. Different is never something to hate.” Posters decorated the halls of the school, and banners were hung at both carpools in celebration of the week.