Students at Saint Andrew's School will show off their grandparents and guests on Wednesday, Nov. 27, in celebration of Grandparent's Day. Special events will include a reception and art display, choral performance and a tour of children's classrooms.
Started nine years ago by preschool teacher Diane Nelson, Grandparent's Day has become a tradition at the 35-year-old elementary school. Nelson borrowed the idea from Breck Episcopal Day School in Minneapolis, where her sister's children went to school.
Last year, more than 600 grandparents, family and friends attended the event. Children without grandparents or whose grandparents cannot attend are encouraged to bring special senior friends, family members or neighbors.
For the third year, Saint Andrew's students will invite residents from the Odd Fellows Home in Saratoga. The school especially wants to include non-ambulatory residents and those without family in the event, which marks the start of the holday season. Each Odd Fellows guest will be attended by two eighth-grade students throughout the day.
Students also use this day to share with those less fortunate by collecting canned goods for the West Valley Friends in the Service of Humanity (FISH) pantry.
Grandparents and special friends will be greeted at the school at 8:30 a.m. with a welcoming reception and display of students' artwork. Long-stemmed roses and special note pads will be given to guests to commemorate the day, and photographs will be taken of grandparents and friends with their young students.
Guests will attend students' classrooms preceding an 11:15 a.m. chapel service and choral presentation.
Saint Andrew's School is a co-educational independent Episcopal day school for students in preschool through eighth grade. Some 450 students attend.The school is a department of Saint Andrew's Episcopal Parish of Saratoga.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, November 13, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved