By: Elaine Martin
Miriam Webster defines field trip as “a visit to a place that is made by students to learn about something.” One local kindergarten student recently experienced such a trip, but the ending of her story shows that she learned more than her teacher had ever planned or imagined.
Deer Park Elementary is an International Baccalaureate School. Part of the program includes learning how to help your community and others around the world. Recently, the kindergarten students were studying a “Where We Are in Place” unit, and the focus was shelters and homes. To see firsthand how most shelters have basic components, such as frames, walls, floors, and ceilings, students visited 3 Habitat for Humanity homes being built at different stages.
The kindergarteners were challenged to bring money to support Habitat by completing a scavenger hunt at their home. For example, they could bring a quarter for each window, dime for doors, nickel for rooms, and pennies for electrical outlets they found in their own homes.
Kindergarten teacher Julia Boling said, “Ellie didn’t think that was enough.”
Ellie Rue, a 6-year-old with a spirit full of service, came home and told her mom Mendy about her desire to make a book. She said she needed to make a book about houses to raise money. Mendy thought Ellie’s artwork was just another homework assignment, until she learned from Mrs. Boling that Ellie wanted to spearhead her own fundraising campaign.
At home, Ellie continued to insist that she write a book, so Mendy and dad Ryan sat down one evening and listened to Ellie’s idea, and they helped her create a storyboard to plan out her pages. The next night, Ellie typed every line of her story on their family computer. Mendy’s mom, whom Ellie calls Mimi, then helped Ellie with the drawings. Mendy laughed when she recalled how Mimi tried suggesting certain things Ellie could draw for a certain page, but Ellie had her own visions. “Ellie’s ideas were way better than Mimi’s! The entire book, from the words to the pictures, is ALL Ellie.”
“A House is a House” is a book that gives the reader a glimpse of why a house is important to Ellie. The pages explain that a house can be made of bricks, and it needs a roof to keep you protected from the rain. On the page where it is written, “Without houses, some people have to live outside,” there is a crayon-drawn person with a sad face who is stuck in a thunderstorm, with raindrops all over the body.
Her story continues, with pages saying a house ”keeps you safe and gives you a bed to sleep in,” that show a colorful home, with a bed and teddy bear, as well as a child with a speech bubble coming out of her mouth saying, “I’m safe!”
Once pictures were scanned, the book was ready to be printed. Mendy checked around for local options to print the book, but quickly learned that using their family deskjet printer would be the most economical choice. The family started telling their family and friends about the fundraising book project and began taking orders. Mendy smiled when she remembered one night that she had several families over for a dinner party, and Ellie would approach the adults and ask, “How many books do you want to order?”
In total, the Rues created 60 books that were sold to acquaintances and teachers at both Deer Park and College View Middle School, where Mendy teaches. Mrs. Boling suggested that instead of making several copies, that perhaps they could charge different prices. In the end, black & white books were sold for $1, colored books for $2, and Ellie Rue autographed books for $3.
Ellie had a dream of raising $100 for Habitat for Humanity; however, in the end, her effort brought in $249.50. She said, “I had a really big bag to take to school!”
When asked why they think their 5-year-old daughter took on such a big project, both Mendy and Ryan shrugged their soldiers and said, “We don’t know. She has been like this since she was itty bitty.” Mendy commented that even in preschool, Ellie was service oriented. There was one particular young girl who had physical limitations, and Ellie saw it as her own mission to befriend and protect her new classmate.
Ellie is kindhearted toward others. She shares her toys with her 3-year-old brother John and gets in his bed at night sometimes in case he needs something. Mendy says Ellie’s passion to see needs in other people is a gift. “God gave her that kind of heart.”
Though this kindergartener may be little, her dreams are huge. In staying true to her gentle heart, her wish is to be a pediatrician one day because “I think it would be great to help kids.”