On Monday, May 20, Wyndcroft held its annual Non Sibi Recognition.
A school motto is special because it captures the essence of the school in a few words. Our school motto, Non Sibi, which means “not for oneself, but for the good of others” does just that. It guides what we strive to be as a community and helps define how we treat one another.
Every day around Wyndcroft, we see students adding positively to our school community by helping out a friend, a teacher, or someone who needs a little help, and we recognize those Random Acts of Kindness during our weekly school gatherings. It is also important to remember that we should think of those outside our school community, and this year, as in years before, we have done just that. On Monday morning, we recognized and celebrated those Non Sibi actions that make our school and our students so vital and special.
To practice the character trait of fairness, Mrs. Kim’s Kindergarten class made dog treats to share with the neighborhood dogs. Here are a few students to tell us what they did:
After all the hard work rolling, shaping, baking, and bagging, they were able to hand the treats out to lucky dogs that passed our school. What a good way to make these dogs feel special and form connections with our neighbors.
The First-Grade students worked together to help our very own neighbor, Mrs. Weber, beautify her garden next to the Marshall House. They planted pink geraniums and white and pink petunias. Mrs. LaGuardia loves showing her students how important it is to cooperate together to help someone else. Thank you to Ms. Lori and Mr. Steve for their help too!
In Second Grade, students made cards three times this year for the residents of Manatawny Manor, a senior living facility located in Pottstown. There is no doubt that these sweet cards and letters brought a smile to the many residents who received them.
Ms. Waters’s Third graders learned all about conservation this year. Their reading series posed the essential question of how can one person can make a meaningful difference in their local and global communities? One of their favorite stories was One Plastic Bag which takes the reader on a journey of self discovery, grit, innovation, community building, and of course, conservation. Isatou Ceesay not only solves the problem of plastic bag pollution, but creates jobs and revenue for the women of Gambia. She is known as the Queen of Recycling because of her initiative to turn plastic bags into purses and bags. The third graders decided they wanted to try their hand at making something out of plastic bags. They created friendship welcome bracelets to be handed out by the Admissions Office when we have visitors to our school.
Mrs. Conrad’s Fourth-Grade class focused on empathy as their Non Sibi character trait. They visited Ryerss Horse Farm dedicated to the well-being of retired horses and donkeys. Rather than soliciting donations from their parents, her students took a more hands-on approach, making and selling friendship bracelets, picking up extra chores at home, and running a school-wide bake sale. Together, they raised an impressive $1,477 for the farm!
In the fall, the entire school raised funds to donate to The Animal House Project. This organization, also out of Pottstown, has a mission to help keep pets out of shelters by providing food and pet care services to people who may have difficulty affording these expenses due to unforeseen circumstances. Great job supporting our local community’s families and their beloved pets, Wyndcroft.
Our school community participated in collecting goods for Cradles to Crayons, a nation-wide organization that provides children from birth through age 12, living in homeless or low-income situations, with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play. Thank you to the Furlong Family for spearheading this event.
In the winter, we had a school wide Holiday Cheer collection to benefit The Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities which operates a public community food pantry at the Outreach Center for any local individuals and families in need of food. This season, we collected 521 pounds of canned goods and toys for the foundation. Great job, Wyndcroft! And thank you to the parent volunteers who loaded all the goods and dropped them off at the Cluster.
The School was also invited to Read for the House. Thank you to everyone who participated in Read for the House this year. In total, our students read for 13, 671 minutes. That was an increase in over 10,000 minutes compared to last year. A special thanks to the 2nd grade for reading the most out of all the grades, with a total of 3,618 minutes! We hope you enjoyed your pancake breakfast courtesy of the Graham Family! Well done! In total, we raised $3,733 for the Ronald McDonald House.
The Wyndcroft School Student Council has been influential in organizing and fulfilling all-school community service initiatives. Today, we recognize the Student Council members for the 2023-2024 school year that have represented their grades and helped run school-wide programs that model Non Sibi. members, who have spent this school year representing their respective grades.
This year’s Student Council introduced the very first year of the new format, which included class representatives from grades 3-8 and four new officer positions: Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President and President. This new format allowed us to have more input across the school, which helps when creating and implementing activities within the school and surrounding community.
Their term began back in September by assisting new families on orientation morning. They also helped to welcome back students to the new school year with lots of enthusiasm!
Throughout the school year, Student Council met once a cycle to discuss possible ideas for our school community. Other areas they assisted with were organizing items for Holiday Cheer, helping with the dances which included theme and raffle ideas along with creating signs and permission slips. They also were in charge of running the Fifth Grade game night and helped in creating a new experience at the Third & Fourth grade Lock-In.
Student Council would also like to thank the faculty and staff who volunteer to help chaperone the many events as we cannot hold them without their help and the WPTO and facilities team for their assistance with many of these events.
It is evident that our students, from EC through Eighth Grade, are making an impact here at school and in the community. We will continue to emphasize the importance of, in the words of Dr. Pernambuco-Wise, “going forth and doing good.”