It started with a knock on my office door and an urgent message saying that help was needed in the gymnasium. It was an emergency! Of course, I responded running down the hallway into the gymnasium where Mrs. Arbour said "come this way," moving towards the multipurpose room.
As I entered the multipurpose room I didn't find an emergency. I found the excitement of a blue and gold filled arena.
It was a birthday surprise . . . for me. It was very nice; it felt very special. We sang songs, had happy birthday wishes, and there were even gifts! I was truly stunned!But it wasn't over yet. The most exciting part was still to come!
This year, the focus of our school improvement has been writing. We would like our students to become better writers, and our teachers and the School Improvement Team has been working on this . . . so it was very appropriate that our students wrote letters to invite a special guest to visit MLK. Here is one of the letters, written by Rachel, a fourth grader at MLK.
Dear Coach,
I am writing to you from King Elementary School. You know my gym teacher, Mrs. Arbour. You're probably wondering why I am writing to you. I have to keep this letter top secret because we don't want my nice, caring, fun principal to know about this letter.
Do you want to know why? You guessed it! Mr. Karr (who says you're his long, lost cousin . . . Karr . . . Carr . . . get it?) well anyway his dream as a boy (and still now), is to meet YOU! His birthday is April 26th.
Now, I know you are a very busy person, but if you could take some time out of your day to come to my school, it would be greatly appreciated. It's okay if you say no . . . I'm shocked you would even have time to read this letter! I want to show Mr. Karr that children can help each other too. But I can't do that without you!
So if you could come to my school and surprise my principal that would make me and my school very happy, not to mention my principal.
Sincerely a Fourth Grader,
Rachel
P.S. Don't contact King Elementary School. Remember it's a top secret mission and a surprise for Mr. Karr
What happened next was the result of all of the letters written by MLK students. Mrs. Knorr told me that I needed to sing the greatest fight song ever written which, of course, is "The Victors." Now I'm a good sport, but I don't always sing on pitch . . . so I said to would do it--if everyone helped me out. Everyone agreed and we started singing. It sounded pretty good with all of my great back up singers.
Then an amazing thing happened. As I was singing, a special guest at MLK began walking up behind me. Everyone could see him but me. As we finished singing "The Victors," I felt a hand on my shoulder. When I looked up, I saw Lloyd Carr, the coach of the Michigan football team!
I couldn't believe it! The letters written to Coach Carr persuaded him to come and visit MLK. It is hard to believe it happened. I want to thank all of the boys and girls for their effort in being the best writers they can be! Nice work! And keep it up! We're going to be the best school of writers anywhere!I also want to thank the MLK teachers and staff. They are a wonderful, dedicated, and talented group of educators. I really appreciate working with such a fine group of professionals.
Last, but not least, thank you to Lloyd Carr for taking the time to be a part of MLK today. It was a wonderful birthday visit that helped us reinforce the power of writing. GO BLUE!
