Points of Pride: Big Kids with Little Kids

In November, I featured some photos of our Upper School thespians hosting a Character Tea for Lower School students… on a Saturday. I celebrated the joy the Upper Schoolers brought to the Lower School students on a day off.

Going through my photos from the last month, I find so many more examples of our Big Kids spending quality time with our Littler Kids. View the short slideshow. Highlights this month come from our seniors delivering holiday cards to their kindergarten buddies and an Upper School club (Brain Buddies) sharing their monthly lesson with fourth graders. I could also include photos of Lower School Families in which fourth graders guide small groups of K-3 students during a monthly lesson. 

Being a school with a single campus serving students ages 5 to 18 is incredibly special. We have an obligation to take advantage of the proximity of those kids at their different stages of school and development. The older kids almost never fail to shine as “big sisters” and “big brothers.” They immerse themselves in the worlds of the younger students, whether they are kindergarteners drawing a reindeer or fourth graders learning how their brains work. And the younger kids? They spend days before the visit getting excited, and days after the visit talking about their special friend. The tears this week of a kindergartener whose senior was taking a test and had to delay his visit were a powerful sign of the importance of that senior to that kindergartener. 

As always, the lessons on balancing equations or on the subjunctive are plenty important, and the lessons on being good people who care about and connect with others are themselves impactful in the lives of our students and are an important part of the Fort Worth Country Day magic. I am so proud of our school for being a place where time is carved out for these sorts of occasions and where our older students are more than willing participants – they are role models.