This year’s Packer in Action Day was jam packed with workshops and activities that invited students, faculty, and staff to explore how the community nurtures belonging at Packer. 

Across the school, guest speakers, workshops, art projects, writing prompts, conversations, and affinity spaces provided a forum for students, faculty, and staff to consider how people offer and receive care within our community, actively listen to one another, and act with purpose and heart. Scroll down for some snapshots of how students brought the Community of Care theme to life across all divisions.
 

Self Care Stations 

At the Early Learning Center, the Puppies engaged in different self care activities including floral arranging, manicures, sensory fun with a water bead tank, and a tattoo station. The relaxing mood was set with diffused essential oils and happy tunes floating through the air.

 

Grandparent Love Letter Writing Workshop

Middle Schoolers extended the Community of Care theme to older members of our community in a love letter writing session. Students created beautiful cards using craft supplies and wrote a loving note to a grandparent or older Packer alum, then walked to the mailbox near campus to mail the cards and share the love!

 

Second Stage Play

Charlotte ’24 directed Upper School students in a moving production of The Wolves, an award-winning play about a teenage girls’ soccer team by Sarah DeLappe. Introducing the play to an audience of fellow Upper Schoolers, faculty, and staff, she reflected on what made her choose The Wolves. “Oftentimes in theater we are playing and acting as characters who are different from ourselves, whether they are adults, people who lived at a different time, or in a world of fantasy. However, in this show, the script and story truly allowed teenage actors the chance to be teenagers on stage. This realism was one of the main reasons we chose this show, and I think it provided a chance for actors to look through the lens of theater at their own selves, a chance for self reflection,” she said.

 

Buddy Gratitude Collaboration

Lower and Middle Schoolers contemplated the power and benefits of gratitude and different ways to express gratitude. Students buddied up and wrote cards to people in their lives who deserved a special thank you.

 

Care in Action Tag Making

This community art project invited every student, faculty, and staff member at Packer to share what they care about and how they make care a verb and express their commitment. The finished tags were then hung along walls in the front hallway of Founder’s Hall, creating a colorful visualization of what each individual and the full community cares about.

 

Build-a-Nest Activity

The Middle School focused on themes of sustainability and caring for the planet. Seventh Graders worked together to build nests that could be picked up and transported without falling apart using only clothespins and natural materials. Collaboration and teamwork were required to pull off this feat of problem solving and creation.

 

Period Equity Workshop 

Students did a Packer restroom inventory, learned about public bathroom policy in NYC, and made period hygiene kits to be donated to a shelter for neighbors in need. 

 

Packer Energy Audit

Elsewhere in the Middle School, students used scientific tools to conduct an energy use audit and find ways for Packer to become more energy efficient.

 

Blue Sky City Murals 

Third Graders shared their feelings about things that are important to them. They had strong feelings about everything from pet bunnies to immigration law reform.