Last Friday, the Lower Campus welcomed a multitude of elders with their respective troves of knowledge for Grandparents’ and Special Friends’ Day. The event kicked off in the Fellowship Hall with a reception, coffee, and welcome address from Samantha. Many thanks to the parent volunteers for their help, likewise, especially since the guest list turned out to be substantially larger than initially expected. Following the reception, grandparents were picked up by their younger relatives for a guest visit to classes. They sat in on lessons across disciplines and within every grade level, participated in discussions and shared ideas while seeing the SMS curriculum through student eyes. A highlight for me was a visit from Debbie Gooding, who attended my English class while we hashed out ideas for thematic interpretations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this year’s MS theater production. Debbie contributed her insights within an energized discussion, and then she capped off the class period by offering a hip-hop improv version of some of Lysander’s rhyming couplets while my daughter accompanied her as beatbox. Good show, certainly. Finally, over the last 90 minutes of the day, the whole school treated our guests to a strings performance in the church. The packed house was enraptured by the musicians in grades K through 8, who performed individual, ensemble, and orchestra selections. If you missed it, or if you’d like to see it again, click here to watch the recording.