Grandparents and Treasured Friends

Students invited their grandparents and treasured friends to join them on October 21, 2011 for a very memorable day. Grandparents were treated to a program of songs from Disney musicals and movies. In the choral finale, students encircled the audience with their voices and joined hands as they sang “The Circle of Life” from Disney’s The Lion King. Natalia and Oleg Romanov, from Russia, were acknowledged for having travelled the farthest to visit their grandchildren at Bear Creek. Nancy Bagby, whose three grandchildren Henry, Shea, and Sam attend Bear Creek, travelled from Orlando, Florida because, “You can’t have a Grandparents Day without a grandparent.”

Grandparents were also invited to attend class with their grandchildren and tour Bear Creek’s Redmond Campus on Union Hill. While visiting Lower School classrooms, grandparents listened to recitations of Bible verses, poems, and songs. In some classes, students shared stories they had written and illustrated, while others interviewed their grandparents about what society was like when their grandparents were growing up. In Miss Vuletich’s grade 5 class at Bear Creek’s Valley Campus, students demonstrated origami and were excited when Jacob H.’s grandmother, Jin Li Xie, who had travelled all the way from China for the event, taught her grandson to fold an origami monkey.

In Bear Creek’s Middle School and Upper School, grandparents attended class with their grandchildren and participated in lectures and discussions. Grandparents solved
for x in Mr. Benson’s Algebra class, participated in a discussion about the government of Sparta during Mr. Sorensen’s Honors World History class, and raptly observed Miss Bell balance a chemical equation in AP Chemistry class.

Despite the downpour, the soggy Northwest weather did not keep grandparents from enjoying time with their families, and they are looking forward to coming back in 2013 for Bear Creek’s next Grandparents and Treasured Friends Day.