Courtesy of Adam Kulaas, assistant principal, Decatur High School:

On Dec. 14, Decatur High School hosted “A Night of Winter Wishes” for students and parents from six elementary feeder schools (Twin Lakes, Olympic View, Green Gables, Adelaide, Brigadoon and Silver Lake).

With vision provided by Decatur senior Jordan Crahan and support of numerous student leaders from ASB, clubs and programs, “A Night of Winter Wishes” delivered an exciting night designed around building community.

Activities during the event included free pictures with Santa (advanced photography student Keelin Everly-Lang), snowflake creation, story telling/reading, magic show (senior Balin Lusby) and an appearance from the Decatur Santa Gator (senior Caitlan Meyers).

One of the highlights of the night, on a day in which we as a nation were faced with unimaginable tragedy was in reading one of the “Dear Santa” letters from a first-grade author at Brigadoon Elementary. She wrote that she wished Santa would pick up the 20 students who died and give them a ride in his sleigh.

The origination of the idea was sparked in supporting the student-led mission to embrace and put into action a year long “Gators Give” campaign in collaboration with our district’s Free the Children partnership to act locally and globally.

As an educational leader, parent and champion for kids, it was exciting to witness and mentor the power, creativity and determination of all of the students involved in making this event a success.