TCS Students Share What They're Grateful For

In a challenging year like 2020, we feel even more grateful for our school community, our teachers, students, staff, board of directors and families.

But perhaps our students putting it into their own words is the best summary of what we all feel this Thanksgiving. Mr. Hudson's 6th-7th grade "Smack of Jellyfish" class often shares what they're grateful for during their closing circles on days in the woods. Recently, the students each prepared a paragraph to express all that they're grateful for this year. Enjoy!:

Owen: This year at TCS we are still in lockdown, so we can’t do as much as we used to do in person. To me its kind of a bummer, but it’s still fun solving and figuring out how to coordinate on things like projects. I have enjoyed learning about how to calculate the area of a circle and doing things like going to the woods every week. For our project this year, our group is studying bananas. We decided for each of us to build a miniature banana transport boat. Mine has a flap that opens and there’s 3D printed cargo boxes inside. I am planning on implementing something about lights. So yeah, this year so far is going great, other than the fact that we are still in lockdown.

Clementine: This year has been weird but fun at the same time. I am very grateful that I do not know anyone that is sick from the virus. I feel really badly that somewhere in the world doctors are telling parents/guardians, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, even kids that someone they know has the virus. I am also very grateful that the school let us go to our classrooms even if that was not for a very long time. Even though there are a lot of sorrowful things going on there are some fun things that are also going on like Committees and Project work. I am very much looking forward to whenever this virus will be over.

Maddie: Although this school year has had challenges for me I have had lots to be thankful for. We get to spend days out in the woods, and we have had beautiful weather. I am also thankful for our teachers being able to still do their jobs and teach their classes. Our class has had fun building fortresses and trading sticks, bark, and clam shells at Bemis Woods. Me and my friends built a fort that has been a lot of fun to make and spend time in. There have also been many challenges this school year and one of them was doing project work on Zoom. It was hard to stay motivated and finish things over Zoom, but I have had lots of fun doing project work with my classmates. Overall I am excited and a little nervous for the next half of the school year.

Quinn: I am grateful for the fact that I am still alive and that no one that I know has gotten COVID-19. I am also grateful for the fact that I can still do school even though I can not be in the building. I am grateful for friends and family who care about me. I’ m also grateful for being able to go to the woods with friends.

Jamie: One thing I’m grateful for is food. There are millions of people out there working hard to make sure people have food. Especially now because of the pandemic, it probably makes an even bigger obstacle but people still do it anyway. The people who shelve stuff at the grocery stores, who transport the food, who box the food and make sure it’s sealed, the farmers that grow the food, the people that sort the food and the people who cook the food, these people are all trying to help make sure that there is food in restaurants or grocery stores. On top of that I feel like when most people go to the store they just buy the product and don’t think about where or how it came to be. So whenever you go to the store, try thinking about what it took to have that can or box sitting on a shelf.

Liam: I am grateful for being able to go to Denver this summer despite of COVID-19. I am grateful because not many people get to travel much. Even though I wasn’t able to go on a single train, bus, or plane, I was still able to go by car and stay at my favorite hotel. The biggest surprise was that the majority of the hotel was filled with football players for the Denver Broncos. I was also able to ride my bike in downtown Denver for the first time. The best news of all is that we came back without testing positive.

Fabi: I liked how we were able to still go to the school, and I did sorta expect to go remote. The start of the year was pretty normal besides wearing masks. I like how I was put in Mr. Hudson's classroom again, but a lot of the other 7th graders were put in the other classroom so that was eh. While we never had problems hearing Mr. Hudson online, that was different for others, so that was sorta a problem. We started to make a zine really early into the school year which I guess was a good decision because if any problems came up we could maybe fix them. Every Tuesday we would all meet at Mills park (including online students) and sorta just be there. And every Friday we would meet at Bemis Woods and there I again would sorta just stand there and sometimes play some game. Then the teachers extended the time we would stay at Bemis Woods from 12:00 to 2:00pm WHAT.

Isabelle: My name is Isabelle and it has been a challenging year in some ways, but I also have many things that I am grateful for thankful for like my pets, Gatsby Winston and Penny, and also a great teacher and a great School. I am thankful for my friends and for my parents for working as hard as they can to get me stuff, like food and great school. I'm happy that I have a place to live and food to eat. And I love my pets. What are you thankful for? Stay safe and good luck.

Caitlin: Hello I am Caitlin. I am thankful for all of my dragon toys, Sir Cheetah XXIII, all of my wonderful art supplies, my electric keyboard, the time we had in-person school, and school in the woods. I've encountered challenges with online school, but I've also had lots of activities to enjoy like jumping on the trampoline, doing somersaults, hiding in my cave, Woods, and more time at home. Another challenge I've encountered is fighting with my sister. It happens more often since I'm at home. Even though she is 3 she likes to start fights. I am really looking forward to having in-person school and be able to see my friends without wearing a mask.

Rhysel: The way this year started out was rough with Covid 19. It still is, but the only difference is that we were mostly remote. It has been hard to get things done well being at home. I think it is meaningful that the school makes time for us to still get to be together in these hard times. I’m grateful for the fact that I get to spend time with my family and have a nice dinner.

Ben: This year has been weird so far because of the whole deadly virus that you may have heard of. I’m kinda sad that we mixed and split 6th/7th grade. Since we’re kinda already separated from our friends because of the pandemic, but now we’re not even in the same class as some of them. We started this year with the option to be in-person in the morning, which was fun, but then there were three days in a row where there was an 8% positive test rate in Illinois, which meant we had to sort of “shut down” and go all-online so that stunk... I’m grateful for being able to have two outside days for school each week, even though we’re all-online now. The days we have outside are Tuesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays, we usually go to someone’s backyard, and on Fridays, we go to Bemis woods with the other 6th/7th grade class. I hope that soon we will be able to go back to school in person, and this crazy pandemic will end.