The young and old alike gathered together in the cramped halls of FC during the morning hours of last Friday. The 23rd annual Grandparents Day was in full swing, as students brought their grandparents around the campus, Oct. 3.

Wheelchairs and canes set foot in Building 5 and 6 around 9:30 a.m., while the faculty handed out student schedules. Grandparents where ushered into their grandchildren’s classes as Student Leadership also provided assistance with the elevators, room locations and extra chairs needed during the day.

Student Leadership member Tim Nyberg, ’16, assisted many of grandparents during the day. He enjoyed the fact that just giving your time was appreciated by many of the grandparents.

“My grandparents weren’t able to come, so must of the time I was helping out the grandparents, with Student Leadership, that needed anything during the day,” Nyberg said. “It’s fun to help the elderly because they are so grateful whenever you give your time, even if it’s something like grabbing an extra chair for them.”

High school and junior high grandparents were able to attend second and half of third period before heading off to lunch. Each year the grandparents and students are treated to a lasagna lunch provided by Student Leadership. Dessert is provided by teacher Sharon Scharf and her home economics classes.

Home Economics student Claire Kollenkark, ’16, helped bake the various cookies served at lunch in the FC Gym, along side the lasagna. Kollenkark is also apart of Student Leadership as wel, which allowed her to see all the aspects in setting up an event like this one.

“Being able to be apart of all the many parts that go into the day was exciting,” Kollenkark said. “I think serving cookies alongside the meal or just small things like a coffee and juice table set up for grandparents in the hall made the day special for them.”

Jerry Peterson, grandfather of Sara Peterson, ’15, has attended Grandparents Day for 6 years. This is Sara’s last year at FC, which was bittersweet for Jerry.

“This is my 6th year at Grandparents Day and it is also my granddaughters last year at FC,” Jerry said. “It was bittersweet for me to see that this will be my last Grandparents Day spent with her, but it was great to see her mature over the years she has been here.”

Junior Emmaline Krohn was also disappointed that her grandparents were unable to come, but enjoyed getting to see the rest of the other grandparents. In some of Krohn’s classes, the grandparents provided a sense of amusement with unique personalities and age differences.

“My grandparents were unable to come today, but it was fun to see all the grandparents walking around in the halls,” Krohn said. “In Spanish, it was really cute seeing all the grandparents trying to say the Spanish words with our class”

Jarrod Markarian was able to enjoy the day with his grandparents. Even though grandparents just visited two periods, the majority of the day was less hectic than usual.

“Spending the day with my grandparents was really fun,” Markarian said. “I found the classes to be a lot more enjoyable with family. The day was light hearted, but even the grandparents got to learn some things during class.”

Katherine Belmont, grandma of Sydney Belmont, ’17, enjoys the fact that she can see what her grandchild does during school. Not just going through her classes, but seeing her personality and decisions shes makes during the day.

“I love to see where Sydney is every day, what she’s doing in school and seeing her teachers, as well as how she interacts with her friends,” Katherine said. “All these are really exciting to see during the day. I am really happy to be here.”

After half of third period was over, the campus congregated around the FC Gym, where lunch was available to students and grandparents. Student Leadership member Chloe Mueller, ’16, helped serve lasagna during lunch, but also brought her own grandparents as well.

“I didn’t have much time to visit with my grandparents during the day, so they mostly just accompanied my cousin to the different {Jayden Ventura} classes,” Mueller said. “Besides that, I still had a lot of fun serving the grandparents food. It was nice to see everyone having a good time bonding and hanging out during the day with family and friends.”

Sandra Surolie, grandparent of Jordan Castro, ’15, and Julian Castro, ’17, has been attending Grandparents Day for three years. Not only being able to see what her grand kids are doing in school, but getting involved with the classes themselves as well was unique to Surolie’s experience on campus.

“I love being with my grandson anytime, but his {Julian} history class was very interesting,” Surolie said. We all got involved. This is probably one of the most grandparent involved classes that I have been too, since I have only been to two {Grandparents Day} other than today. It was defiantly my favorite one so far.

This author can be reached via Twitter: @rynnking_.

For more features, read the Oct. 6 article, Artist shares the gospel through paint, martial arts.