Under any other circumstance, a full-size sailboat parked in front of a school would be a surreal sight. But for the students and staff at Pilgrim Park Middle School in Elm Grove, Wis., it marks the beginning of a well-loved, if slightly wacky, Thanksgiving tradition called “stuffing the boat.”
Through November, students plan, promote, and run a food collection drive. The donations are then “stuffed” into the boat, which is eventually driven out to local food pantries in the community.
The boat is a literal vehicle for the food drive, but also a nifty way to start a conversation about donations, said Elizabeth Nelson, the associate principal at Pilgrim Park.
“When parents come in for their parent-teacher conferences, they ask about the boat. This year, the school community has donated over 3,600 items for the food drive,” Nelson said, adding that on average, the drive brings in enough donations to “stuff” four boats.
Nationwide, school leaders have tried to create annual Thanksgiving traditions that evoke a sense of gratitude and giving back in their school community.
Miguel Salazar, the principal of Sundown Middle School in Sundown, Texas, started a new one this year: He placed a microphone and an iPad in the middle of the hallway, with a prompt attached to the microphone that read: “One person I’m grateful for at SMS…”
Students could record themselves responding to the prompt, and the video responses were compiled into a video that was then shared on Salazar’s YouTube channel.
“It’s a small yet meaningful way to celebrate gratitude and bring our school community together during the holiday season,” Salazar said.
Principals need a plan to get students involved
Putting a twist on the usual traditions of giving thanks can get students excited to participate.
In Salazar’s video, students are initially hesitant to speak into the camera. Some use the microphone to sing and practice their dance moves. Eventually, students amble up to the microphone to leave longer messages about the teachers and friends they’re grateful for. By the end of the video, there’s a line in front of the microphone, with kids waiting eagerly to get their message across.
In her first year as principal of the Mountain Vista Community School in Colorado Springs, Colo., Nicole Paxton has tried to infuse the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout the school day in the week leading up to the holiday.
Her school counselors host a “Thanks For Giving” week, where students use their social-emotional learning periods in the morning to write thank you notes to friends or family members. During that time, counselors also host community circles where students are prompted to think about how they want to show gratitude to the person they’re thankful for, Paxton added.
It isn’t all just about gratitude journaling, though. Paxton and her team hide more than 100 small acrylic pumpkins throughout the school for students to find as a fun activity to top off the week. The school’s staff also hand-delivers mini pies to the central district office staff to thank them for their support, said Paxton.
To balance the fun with the more serious reflections about gratitude takes work, Paxton said: “It takes intentionality and planning, but it also takes you as a leader setting up time to ensure that it gets done.”
For instance, the counselors must plan ahead to shift the focus of their lessons this week, from issues like bullying to showing gratitude.
Thanksgiving can be a way for students to practice essential skills
At the Northeast Career and Technical Academy in North Las Vegas, Thanksgiving week is an opportunity for two disparate groups of students to come together. High schoolers collaborate with their much younger peers, the preschoolers on campus, to put on a Macy’s-style Thanksgiving parade.
“The Macy’s parade is a shared memory for all the generations,” said Nicole Delgado, an associate principal at the school.
“We are a magnet school, so we don’t have a performing arts program. We don’t have other big events like a Homecoming parade,” she said. “This is an opportunity to involve everyone at the school in something joyful.”
The younger students dress up as their favorite characters—which range from Santa and princesses to Minecraft characters—and the older students dress up according to their career and technical education specialization. Those in the construction track, for instance, march in hard hats.
The parade is an opportunity for the older kids to put their learning into practice, said Delgado. Aspiring student-teachers help the preschoolers with their costumes and signs and hold their hands to navigate them through the 30-minute parade.
Students who are on the logistics CTE track must figure out how to get the preschoolers safely to the third floor, where the parade is held.
“It’s a real-world project for them. The older kids learn more patience and understanding,” said Delgado. “It’s so much fun for them to articulate things in a way that a 5-year-old can understand.”
