On Tuesday, we were treated to a visit by an adorable baby goat, courtesy of Garden Coordinator Christine Brinkman! Plenty of "ahhhhhhs" were heard as kids "ponied" up to see and pet our new friend. And on Wednesday, we had another of our famous "Buddy Days," which this time featured the whole student body dancing with their buddies in the Main Amp to the Sugar Hill Gang (sadly, I remember when they were new!) and One Direction! This was to celebrate our winter of creative physical education one last time as we hopefully move outdoors on a more regula r basis! All of these activities are typically reflective of the joy in our mission that is visible here every day.

On a more serious note, as I came into the Middle School Amp for our Wednesday morning meeting, my first thought was, "What is this mess on the floor?" It turned out the "mess" was giant garbage bags of used shoes collected so diligently by our 6th grade class for their service-learning project! As you probably know by now (and hopefully some clutter is gone from your closets), they have been collecting used shoes to benefit Water Step, an organization that helps provide clean drinking water to communities around the world that are in dire need. I stopped by Ms. Jones' classroom that morning, and what is so rewarding is seeing the kids so energized about what they are doing. When they got up to speak about their project, there were no "cue cards." They could speak off-the-cuff about why they had chosen this group to help and cited statistics about the predicament of lack of access to clean water. 

This is why we take service learning so seriously. It is the attitude it instills more than any particular collection or dollar amount we might raise.

Stay tuned for the "grand finale" in next week's newsletter. The "Save it or Shave it" assembly is this Friday (too late for "press time") and several of us are nervously awaiting our fates of whether we're going to lose our newly grown beards, moustaches (think Walter Denham!) and goatees - or in Ms. Linkous' case, all her hair! All for a good cause and all in a wacky St. Francis/March week of joy and service to others! Enjoy the many great pictures above and below!

P.S. - You can use this link to purchase tickets to our St. Francis Drama Project production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors opening next Friday, March 21!
You may want to get on those fast, as we often sell out in advance. Hope to see you there.  

**Box Tops Reminder!**