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A Message from our PTA President, Kamela Aboussie
Dear Bradfield Families,
Welcome back to school! Can you believe it?! Amid the chaos of this quick transition from the slower days of summer to reminders, to-dos, a maze of schedules and the anticipation of nonstop action, I am reaching to remember the elementary giddiness of back-to-school shopping, brand new school supplies, crisp first day outfits, hugs from teachers and #2 pencils!
As a community, summer came to a halt on July 4th when our sweet Lila Bonner and Eloise Peck were lost in the flood at Camp Mystic. These two incoming 3rd graders were cherished Bradfield students and friends, and this is an incredible loss and unimaginable tragedy for our school. I know many of us are hurting, and many are walking hand-in-hand with the Bonners and the Pecks.
I’ve struggled a lot to reconcile kicking off a new and exciting 100th year celebration while starting a year on the heels of losing Lila and Eloise. In praying through this struggle, I kept landing back on the word “community.” Our community is unique and its stand-out quality is that we show up for one another in the best and the worst of times. This sets Bradfield and HPISD apart among schools and school districts.
And then, while cleaning out some cabinets at school I came upon a Bradfield TREASURE, a scrapbook created during the 1975-1976 school year to celebrate Bradfield’s 50th year! Among many other things, I learned their theme for the 50th year was School Citizenship. In 1975 the PTA President, Joan Stansbury, wrote “Outside of the family relationship, our children’s first experience in citizenship comes as a member of the school community. If a child learns pride in and responsibility for his/her school he has learned the very basics of citizenship….let’s develop and create a sense of school community during this special year at Bradfield.”
So, here we are in the best and the worst of times as a community. And we’re demonstrating what a community does. We will stand in the gap for the Bonners and the Pecks, we’ll teach our children to proudly represent Bradfield’s special legacy of friendship and support, and we will celebrate that 100 years ago our first families had the heart and the vision to establish traditions that created this lasting sense of community!
We kicked off the 100th year on Friday welcoming our wonderful staff back to school with a fun “Sunny Days Ahead!” luncheon! A big thank you to so many PTA volunteers who helped plan, serve, and pass out party favors. And, an extra thank you to our fleet of golf cart drivers who braved 100 degrees to zip our staff back and forth between Bradfield and the luncheon. It was a very sweet welcome back to our staff, and I’m so grateful to each of you who helped!
We have many many special plans in store to celebrate our Centennial year, and I can’t wait for all the fun!
Signing off with this little (slightly edited) Bradfield ditty from 1975:
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of Bradfield Centennial Year!
Our Celebration will include
Historic children’s games, crafts, exhibits and food.
So do not fear and be a dear
Grab a peer and get in high gear
For our CELEBRATION will soon be near!!
All my blue and gold love! Go Broncos!!
Kamela Aboussie
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