St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s cultivates a variety of events and traditions that forge deep connections between lower division students and their upper division friends. The benefits are many: upper division students gain real leadership and mentorship opportunities, while early childhood and lower school students see what is in store for them in upper division and have positive models to follow. On Valentine’s Day, this year’s junior kindergarten students made sure that last year’s eighth grade buddies (now alumni) received some extra love from St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s. Each junior kindergartener created a special valentine for the student who had been their buddy during the annual Nursery-Eighth Grade Gingerbread House Project.
One pair was Héva and Zachary, who is now a freshman at Horace Mann School. Héva remembered their gingerbread collaboration fondly. “It was fun to work with an eighth grader and to make a new friend!”
Héva took her time carefully writing out “Zachary” and the word “love,” because, she said, “That’s what you share on Valentine’s Day!”
All alumni from the classes of 2018 and 2019 received valentines from their nursery gingerbread partners. It is the hope of both the young students and faculty that all who received one of these special valentines is reminded that though they have graduated, they are still very much a part of the St. Hilda’s & St. Hugh’s community.