Glen Grove Community Project

Every year, radio stations (and now, streaming platforms) still debate what the song of the summer will be. According to Billboard, Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" was the song of the summer in 2023 and in 2021 it was BTS' "Butter" (Fun fact: "Macarena" was the song of the summer for 1996). Whatever song is chosen, it's meant to elicit images and sense of nostalgia for summer days by the pool hanging out with friends and family, traveling to distant lands, or just lazing about and watching the clouds float by against the backdrop of an endless sky.

At Glen Grove, we have our own soundtrack to celebrate the end of the school year and the beginning of summer: the End-of-the-Year Staff Dance, when all of the teachers show off their sweet dance moves to the students. It's a tradition that has been upheld for longer than I've been a part of this community, but have been lucky to partake in since I joined the Gator family. I remember that the first dance I was in was a medley from The Greatest Showman and while I didn't really know people that well at the time, I was welcomed to be part of the spectacle.

The following school year was a difficult one, as we were separated with the global lockdown in spring of 2020, but the tradition continued with a video montage of everyone dancing to "We're All in This Together" at home. 2021 brought us together to dance to BTS' "Dynamite" and the year after that added "Colors" by Stella Jang to our list of performances. Last year brought confetti canons and pizzazz with Whitney Houston's remixed hit, "Higher Love."

It's amazing how memory works - things that appeal to the senses, like music, give you a certain feeling about a time and a space. Like watching the fireworks on the Fourth of July, the smell of flowers of Midsommar, the taste of delicious food prepared for Juneteenth celebrations, and the colorful sights of the races at Dragon Boat Festivals - senses invoke feelings of movement and moment. Whenever I hear a song that I performed as part of the End-of-the-Year dance, I get those nostalgic summer feelings too.

Summer is a time to remember, rest, reflect, and recharge - and to look forward to sunny skies ahead.

On behalf of the Glen Grove Community Project, we would like to thank everyone for being a part of our celebrations this year! We also want to give a special thanks to the Glenview Education Foundation (GEF) for the opportunity to use our grant money for this year's events. We look forward to celebrating with you again next year!

• Learning from Disney Visionaries - Jewish American Heritage Month
• Jewish American Heritage Month Spotlight from Nickelodeon
• Virtual Museum of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History

• The New York Public Library List of AAPI Children's Books
• The National Education Association's resources for teaching AAPI Heritage
• PBS Video on AAPI Month

• Library of Congress Information about Pride Month
• LGBTQ+ Pride Month Resources from the Anti-Defamation League
• Smithsonian Information on Celebrating Pride Month

• Katherine Ellison, Glen Grove Principal
• Aurora Joaquin, Glen Grove Speech-Language Pathologist
• Katelyn Kelleher, Glen Grove Psychologist
• Hedy Helfand, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
• Pam Leister, Glen Grove English Langauge Learning Teacher
• Lisa Funke, Glen Grove Learning Resource Center Director
• Nicole Bright, Glen Grove 4th Grade ClassroomTeacher
• Marie Chang-Pisano, Glen Grove Reading Intervention Associate
• Sylvia Gorski Duarte, District Title III Family Resource Teacher
• Lindsey Lurie, District Multilingual Instructional Coach
• Amina Terry, Mongolian Community Coordinator

Email: GGCommunityProject@gmail.com