Written by Annah, an Elementary hero new to our tribe.

Valentine’s Day-
My second year in elementary school.

It was Valentine’s Day in my second grade classroom. Everyone was given a small sheet of paper with words on it saying, “A person in the class is awesome because…”

The instructions were to write something that was nice about a person. Everyone had to write to everyone. If you didn’t know what to write you could ask them to share about themselves.

Only one person walked up to me and asked me a question, I told them I liked to sing and dance.

At the end of the day I had a pile of papers on my desk. I was so excited to see why people thought I was awesome.

First Paper:
She’s tall

Second Paper:
Nice headband

Third paper:
Tall

Forth Paper:
She likes to sing and dance.

Fifth Paper:
She’s tall

And so on for 19 more of she’s tall.

My heart sank. I’d been in class for 7 month and nobody knew me except as the tall girl. On my way home I told my mom about the day. About how hurt I felt that nobody knew me except for it as the tall girl, and the one boy who asked me what I like to do. I felt disappointed.

I had been going to the school since I was in kindergarten, did nobody know me? I thought of myself as a good friend. I had birthday parties and sleepovers and spent time with others, and this was the combined consensus – she’s tall.

This year is my first year at Acton Academy. Currently we are learning what’s it like to be human. What does it mean to be human, how do we learn measures of growth, how to overcome challenges and how to celebrate established rituals.

As part of the celebrating established rituals we have a ritual for birthdays in our studio. We sit in a circle and listen to a poem then we go around the circle and we say something about that person. I didn’t realize that’s what we were doing at first. When our guide announced we were going to go in the circle and say something nice about me, I felt anxious remembering back to that Valentine’s Day.

Then it happened…

First person:
You make everything better!

Second person:
You listen to others and include everyone.

Third person:
You’re calm and try to make everyone happy!

Fourth:
You listen to everyone and give positive feedback,
and so on.

My heart is full! I am so happy to be part this amazing group!