Sedge Garden Students Are Singing, Visiting and Helping Others During the Holidays

At Sedge Garden Elementary School, they have been reaching out to the community in a number of ways during the holidays.

One of the school’s business partners is TE Connectivity, and members of the school chorus have gone to TE Connectivity plants to sing.

“Over the course of two days 125 fourth-graders from Sedge Garden sang at the eight locations of TE Connectivity in both Winston and Greensboro,” said music teacher Rebecca Reel. “Some of the locations were offices and others were their distribution center and factories.  The trip was planned as a thank you to TE Connectivity for being Sedge Garden's partner in business.”

The students will perform for the Sedge Garden family at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11.

On Dec. 18, thanks to the people at TE, Santa will be visiting students at Sedge Garden. “They also do an amazing Angel Tree for many of our families,” said Principal Ramona Warren.

Fourth- and fifth-grade students are collecting items for the Lifeline Shoebox Ministry, which provides everyday items that someone in a nursing home or assisted-living facility needs – toothbrush, Kleenex, shampoo, etc. 

"The students are learning bout how it is not about getting during the time of year but about giving and helping people," said teacher Jordan McGee. "We talked about nursing homes and how sometimes people live there when they need help."

You can find out more about the ministry at Lifeline

The whole school is participating in Friends Feeding Friends for Sedge Garden’s sister school in Honduras.

“They are struggling to provide food for their families due to a challenging harvest season,” said curriculum coordinator Megan Houston. “The students at Sedge Garden are collecting money to be sent to this school in Honduras so they can purchase the materials needed (seeds, gardening tools, etc.) to have a successful growing season this upcoming year.

“We have previously sent school supplies and books to help their school when it was established. Our school realized that they have other needs outside of the classroom and we are so thankful to be able to help them financially as they are struggling at this time with starvation.”

Students are also participating in the Samaritan Ministries Penny Campaign.

Student Kacie Roberts with Wanda Hill

Student Maia Blevins interviews Hazel Dixon

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Sedge Garden cheerleaders visited with residents of Bradford Village retirement community.

“That experience was the highlight of my 13 years as a teacher,” said group adviser Beverly Lester.

Here is an excerpt from what Lester wrote about the experience:

Eighteen young ladies entered the Bradford Retirement Center dressed in matching Sedge Garden Elementary School teal tee shirts, black shorts and matching ribbons wrapped around various lengths of ponytails. Their black and white pom-poms swished as they walked up to the residents seated in the community room and began their magic. The Panther Pride Cheerleaders perform four cheers and two dances while the senior citizens clapped, tapped their feet to the music and smiled from ear to ear.

The cheerleaders led the men and women into the dining room to assist in making holiday decorations to adorn their room doors. Elves, Santas and reindeer were created while the residents enjoyed chatting with the team. After crafts were completed, interviews with our wise senior citizens were conducted.

It was comforting to hear that every senior citizen who was interviewed answered with hopeful and comforting statements. Mrs. Sylvia Anderson told Kianna Satterfield that she enjoyed bowling, tennis and softball in her youth. She feels people have to help each other to make our world a better place and her advice to our youth is to be able to say, “I tried!”

Everyone shared cups of ice cream at the end of the visit, but not without honoring requests for repeat performances of the cheers and dances.