A Fishy Gift
At City Springs, we believe in fostering empathy with the vision of seeing the school community act as a family. A sense of family provides individuals with a support system within the school and encourages people to care about one another. Recently, Ms. Garrish’s student demonstrated a wonderful act of empathy and caring for someone who was feeling upset.
Back in 2017, Laura Doherty, president of the Baltimore Curriculum Project, bought a goldfish for City Springs principal Dr. Richetta so that she could use it for a professional development that took place in the spring. Dr. Richetta wanted to use the fish to demonstrate our Pre-K students’ knowledge from a recent Core Knowledge lesson as they identified the different parts of a fish. After the professional development, Dr. Richetta grew attached to the goldfish, keeping him in a bowl on her desk. His home got progressively bigger, graduating from a bowl to a small tank to a larger tank as he kept growing. Dr. Richetta eventually named the fish “Mine” since she was so attached to him, and school secretary Tammy Johnson helped care for the goldfish by feeding it on a daily basis.
A few weeks ago, Mine passed away, and Dr. Richetta was very upset. Ms. Garrish shared the story of Dr. Richetta’s goldfish with her class, and the students proposed a wonderful idea: get her a new fish! They did some research about the best kind of fish to buy based on life expectancy, and eventually presented Dr. Richetta with a new goldfish, which she named “Mine 2.” This thoughtful and kind act is an example of the things that we encourage and appreciate at City Springs. The students were very eager and proud to present her with it, and Dr. Richetta truly felt cared for by the City Springs family.