The Central Elementary School classrooms were filled with happy chatter, pink and red decorations and delicious treats on Friday, Feb. 13, getting ready to celebrate for the impending holiday the next day, Valentine’s Day. Students exchanged cards and candy with friends and classmates and also celebrated the holiday an hour before school closed.
For many of the students, Valentine’s Day was all about the candy, parties and a free day.
“It’s about eating candy,” second-grader Fiona Keenan said.
“The candy and the partying,” fifth-grader Jada Eible Hargro laughed.
“Valentine’s Day is a really fun day, and we don’t have any homework on Valentine’s Day,” second-grader Chloe Luci said.
However, the meaning behind the holiday wasn’t lost.
“It’s about love and giving,” first-grader Mia Swiecicki said.
“And sharing,” first-grader Sammy Potts-Drew added.
“It’s about being weird and nice,” first-grader Gabe Guerrieri giggled.
“It’s about people coming out and showing their expressions and emotions for other people. And also we get candy, so I like it,” fifth-grader Wyatt Ay said.
While not all students had individual valentines, that didn’t mean they couldn’t still share in the spirit of the holiday. Each classroom exchanged Valentine’s Day cards and candy among their classmates. Fiona gave Starbursts; Sammy gave cards and Airheads; and Jada just gave cards.
“My favorite part is the giving,” Mia said.
Some of the students had plans to give others Valentine’s Day gifts, too.
Fifth-grader Bella Carle made her family pictures and cards. Chloe made a Valentine’s Day card for her teacher, Audrey Monte, and was also planning on giving some to her parents, too.
For the actual holiday, some had fun, holiday-inspired plans. Second-grader Jake Schultz had plans to make heart-shaped themed pizzas with his babysitter. Bella had Valentine’s Day dinner at her grandmother’s house.
Others just had some fun plans they were going to enjoy on the holiday. Fiona and Sammy had plans with their family and friends to go skiing. Jada had a basketball game, and fifth-grader Nina Wolf had gymnastics practice.
