Bess Streeter Aldrich Groundbreaking Ceremony Speech

Read the remarks from Kim Cross, the first principal for Aldrich Elementary:

It is an honor to be here today.  First, I would like to say thank you to our community and the citizens who voted to build this school.  This is such an exciting time for Cedar Falls to be building the first new elementary in our city since the 1960’s.  I am honored to be a part of this groundbreaking and to be named the first principal of this school. What an exciting time for our students, our district and our town.  

Naming this school after Bess Streeter Aldrich, is soc very appropriate. Aldrich was a Cedar Falls native who valued education and was a prolific writer.  In her book, A Lantern in Her Hand, Bess Streeter Aldrich wrote - “You have, to dream things out. It keeps a kind of an ideal before you. You see it first in your mind and then you set about to try and make it like the ideal. If you wan t a garden,—why, I guess you've got to dream a garden.” How fitting for this new school - we are dreaming this garden right here on this piece of land.  And we are carrying it out by planning this school with learning in mind.  Cedar Falls Schools carries out the work of professional learning communities, putting learning at the forefront.  Our “garden” in Aldrich’s words,  will continue to grow in this school as we use this school to continue collaboration of teachers to promote learning of our students.  What we do in Cedar Falls, through excellent teaching and learning, will continue to grow here as well.

In closing, I want to share another quote of Bess Streeter Aldrich - “Home was something besides so much lumber and plaster. You built your thoughts into the frame work. You planted a little of your heart with the trees and the shrubbery.”

We are so much than this building itself - we are about all of us - our students, our staff, our teaching and learning.  Thank you again for making this opportunity possible.