Photo provided Hundreds of Parkside Elementary students signed well wishes and a happy birthday for the worker who fills their soda machine at the school.
Parkside Elementary students earlier this month went the extra mile to show school-wide appreciation for a regular visitor who keeps the soda machine well-stocked.
Kristina Ebersold, the secretary at Parkside, on Jan. 15 was having her regular, once-a-week conversation with Reese Holmes, who loads the soda machines, when the two realized they shared the same birthday month.
Holmes’ birthday was coming up, and he made passing mention about how probably nobody would be aware.
That was not going to stand at Parkside— Ebersold sent out a building-wide email to alert everyone of the upcoming birthday and said that if anyone would like to give him birthday cards to bring them to the front desk.
A gift was also put into motion. Staff used a printer at the school to emblazon a bag with “I will drink Coca-Cola here or there, I will drink Coca-Cola everywhere,” a la Dr. Seuss, which any birthday cards would be put into.
Then sixth-grade teacher Stephanie Rawlings told her students about Holmes’ soon-to-be birthday, and they took it to another level.
Students decorated the soda machines with ribbons, balloons and personal cards, with messages like “Happy Birthday! 4ever part of Parkside,” and put together a large banner which hundreds of students signed.
Not only that, one student tapped into her network, asking an expert neighbor cake-maker if they would bake something for Holmes. The result— a cake with a fitting soda-theme.
Ebersold complimented the initiative of students that went out of their way to make Holmes’ birthday a little more special.
“They took it and went above and beyond,” Ebersold said. “It was just amazing to see our kids thinking of others, not just themselves.”
