Students, staff and parents within the Valders Elementary School community continue to memorialize the life of a student who passed away last month.
Skylar Rose Beattie, an 8-year old Manitowoc girl, died following a car accident on Jan. 5. The Valders Elementary third-grader left an impact that Principal Jason Procknow said he was proud to see celebrated on Thursday.
The school’s Thursday ‘Pink Out Day’ allowed students and staff to flood the school in a sea of Skylar’s favorite color of pink. From pink shirts to pink shoes, the crowded Valders hallways looked more like a cherry blossom tree as they were adorned with pink to memorialize Skylar.
Also prominently displayed in the hallways were tables full of food, as the school held a food drive this week in honor of Skylar. Procknow said Skylar was the inspiration behind the effort to fill a community food pantry.
“I talked through with her mom about what she thought Skylar might like to honor…and her mom said [Skylar] wanted to help people, so we came about this food donation drive to donate to the pantry.”
Kris Brown, Skylar’s teacher, told Seehafer News that her class takes time whenever necessary to honor Skylar. The children are encouraged to discuss their feelings and acknowledge memories via a memory window in the classroom.
“Whenever her name comes up or a kid has a memory of her, they get to put a heart in the window. We talked about it and we have not stopped talking about Skylar. I think that has been helpful. Just talking about her and not letting it be like, ‘It’s not OK to say Skylar’s name…’”
Brown has taken an active role in embracing her students’ emotions and reactions, detailing an example of how the memory window works. “We have Dum-Dum suckers, and we do this math game and the winners get a sucker. One of Skylar’s very close friends got to pick a sucker and she’s like, ‘This was Skylar’s favorite, this pineapple flavor!’ I said, ‘Skylar, you’re thinking of us again, go put a heart on the window.’ I think that has helped.”
Honoring Skylar’s life will not end with wearing pink clothes and donating food, as Procknow told Seehafer News that the school PTA voted to buy a memorial tree that will be planted on the school grounds. “The tree that they picked out is a tree called the Pink Sparkles Flowering Crab. So, that’ll go in this spring,” adding that Skylar’s name will be attached. “We’ll have a monument at the base of the tree with Skylar’s name on it.”
The principal also expressed appreciation to the community for their behavior during this period of grief and remembrance. “They really looked out for Skylar’s memory, Skylar’s family, plus all of us here at school.”