Originally, the goal of Safety Day was to let students at Brunton Elementary School in Springfield, Mass., meet community helpers. But the actual day turned into a larger, even more meaningful community-building event that drew students closer to each other and to important adults in their community.
“The idea was for children to see community helpers in a positive light,” Cristina Giannakopoulos, Brunton’s City Connects Coordinator, explains.
Giannakopoulos and her colleagues organized Safety Day, inviting representatives from the Springfield Police Department and the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, as well as paramedics and members of the Springfield Fire Department.
The result was a beautiful spring day that turned into a public safety party. The guests – including police officers, police unit dispatchers, and emergency medical technicians – gathered just outside the school building, bringing along a sheriff’s department marine unit boat, a therapy dog, and sheriff’s department horses.
The Fire Department was scheduled to attend, but that morning they had to put out a fire.
Each grade was supposed to come outside in shifts, but the day was so bright and warm that everyone came out together.
“The kids got to pet the therapy dog and the horses,” Giannakopoulos says. “We had a canine demonstration: a Springfield police officer showed us how a police dog would work at a crime scene, and the officers answered the kids’ questions, which was very cool.
“And parents also came, which was great, because they were engaged, too.”
For some of the fifth graders, Safety Day ended up doubling as Career Day, because students had the chance to ask questions about the horses and about what it takes to become a police officer. Now Giannakopoulos and her colleagues are thinking about having a career fair.
Giannakopoulos is also considering having the therapy dog come back to school so children can read to him.
“The best thing that came out of Safety Day,” Giannakopoulos says, “is that the kids came together. Everybody was outside. The kids were all having a good time. The whole school just came together as a community.”
