Reflections from the Road: Vestavia Hills Elementary Central

Yesterday, I got to visit with the students at Vestavia Hills Elementary Central. I arrived in the morning, walking into a busy project-in-progress in their library, but was quickly swarmed by kids wanting their Scholastic Book Fair edition of Frostborn signed and personalized. This library is clearly the heart of the school, with a lot of activities and interesting things ongoing on tables throughout the room and students taking advantage of it throughout the day. The library even has a 3D printer, and I got to see student-designed fabricated creations!

Then I had a nice lunch with Librarian Elizabeth Hester and several school staff and teachers. The brownies were delicious! After lunch, Elizabeth took me around the school on a whirlwind visit to most of the thirty-three classrooms, to pop in for quick hellos and pictures with students.

Finally, it was off to the gymnasium for two back-to-back presentations, one to the fourth grade and one to the fifth. These were shorter presentations than my usual, but we hit the highlights and you could tell the students were eating it up.

All told, I got to speak to a lot of VHEC students, both around the school and in the short Q&As after each presentation, and I was very impressed with their engagement, the quality of their questions, and how enthusiastic and polite they were.

Thank you to Media Specialist Elizabeth Hester, Principal Marian Humphries, and all the wonderful teachers and students for a great visit to VHEC!