Many kids filled the halls of Northern Valley Demarest this past Thursday April 24 for the annual Bring Your Kid to Work Day. The teachers of NVD brought their young children to see how life in high school is.
Dayna Krachtus, an English teacher, brought her nine year old daughter Hadley who was super excited to meet all the students. After coming last year, Hadley had high expectations for what would happen.
“She was really excited to come because last year she had a great time and made candy salad and slime,” Krachtus said.
During class time, Hadley had a great time interacting with the students. Many of the high schoolers were super welcoming and thrilled to talk to Hadley, even going out of their way to make sure she had a good time. Though she is a little intimidated by boys, Hadley had a great time with the girls and got more outgoing throughout the day as she gained confidence.
“Over the course of the day she gained the courage to stand in front of the classroom and do her show and tell (something I told students they could do too if they wanted to),” Krachtus said. “Her favorite part was meeting my students. She’s at the age when she’s really into teenagers.”
Another kid who came to the school this past Thursday was Gavin, who is school librarian Sabina Albirt’s six year old son. Gavin was part of NVD’s Teens and Tots program so he was super thrilled to see his old classroom and students who were a part of the program last year.
“Gavin had a countdown to when he could come to work with me… he was very excited to come back to the building and see his old classroom and be in the library again,” Albirt said.
If you were to ask Gavin what his favorite part of the day was he would say absolutely everything! However, Albirt explained how she most enjoyed being able to share her son with the NVD community.
“I love being able to not only share NVD with Gavin, but love being able to share Gavin with NVD. I think it helps the staff connect with the students when we are able to tangibly share a part of our lives with them,” Albirt said.
During the day, Albirt brought Gavin to the culinary room in order to make pizza. During this, the NVD students were super sweet and helpful. Albirt recalls a specific moment that really warmed her heart.
“Watching one of the seniors help Gavin knead and shape the dough was a definite highlight,” she said.
Many of the NVD staff changed their usual lesson plans for something a little more fun for the occasion. Krachtus gave her students a lot of free time to interact with her daughter and brought many fun activities.
“Hadley really wanted to do a ‘would you rather’ so we did that in one class where she told students which side of the room to go to. I also did an optional show and tell. But mostly, she just played games and did glitter tattoos,” Krachtus explained.
Albirt did something similar, creating a fun arts and crafts station for the high schoolers as well as for Gavin.
“I had a station set up in the library all day to make your own bookmarks – there were some “coloring page” book marks, some scratch off book marks and some plain colored ones that kids could draw or use stickers on,” she said.
Bring Your Kid to Work Day was a fun time for all in NVD, including the students, staff, and especially kids.
“Gavin had a great day and can’t wait to come back again next year!” Albirt said.
