Class of 2025, June, is slowly approaching, and with that comes graduation. We are on to our next adventure, but with that, we have to look back at our roots. Some of us may be going on, living in new places and seeing new things, but we can’t forget where our seeds were planted and the memories they hold. For some of us, many of those memories were made at Delaware Avenue—Hayes Elementary School.
As Hayes alumni, we hold lots of great memories that are very specific to us. From teachers, staff, field trips, sports teams, clubs, friendships, and so much more, we have all experienced a lot, but it all came from the same place. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, the Hayes way.
Those fortunate enough to be at Hayes Elementary School from kindergarten to fifth grade spent seven years at Hayes, from 2011 to 2018. Some others, including myself, joined the very welcoming community later.
“It’s crazy,” Ella Hyatt said. “I can remember every single teacher I had at Hayes. In kindergarten, I had Mrs. Smith, who I miss so much.”
Hyatt recalls many memories from her Hayes experience, but choosing between them is hard.
“I don’t think I can pinpoint just one memory from Hayes, but I really like knowing that most of my friends [are] from Hayes, I still talk to today,” Hyatt said. “I’ve grown up with these people, I met them when we still had nap time.”
We started our journey together. We met in our younger years and stayed on the same journey to middle school and high school, but now it is time to take our own paths and grow our own tree. We couldn’t have done this without all the fantastic people we have met along the way, ranging from peers to staff at Hayes.
We were lucky to have Mrs. Powers as our principal, who drilled “Good choice, poor choice, always your choice” into our heads. She encouraged us to keep a growth mindset, which I know will always stick with me even through adulthood. The Hayes journey started for some of you in kindergarten, where you had Mrs. Smith or Mrs. Papp. Kindergarten was memorable for having a big fifth grader read with you, and at the end of the year, you got to go to the zoo with them! Kindergarten teacher Katie Papp shared her thoughts on the field trip.
“The zoo was always my favorite tradition. I would have to say that’s something everyone always remembers,” Papp said. She was right because, as a high school senior, I can still recall traversing the Cleveland Zoo with my class and book buddy!
Transitioning to first grade was easy because of the excellent teachers, Ms. Perez, Mrs. Harper, and Mrs. Andregg.
Though these people have given us many memories, one person from Hayes Elementary has followed us through middle school and into high school. Not only did this person give us so many memories, but he also gave us video proof. Kevin Costello made many fun videos and made us feel so included. From music videos to the news, our digital footprint expanded at a young age because of him.
There are many videos from our days at Hayes from the years we were there. Going back nine years ago, there was a video from third grade, “Shooting for the Stars,” which taught us never to give up and always give our 110%. Eight years ago, we made a video called “Kindness at Hayes,” which showed us ways to do different acts of kindness for your classmates, such as closing a peer’s locker (starring Hyatt) or helping Mrs. Staskus (fourth grade) clean up her books! Another video from fourth grade was “Wrinkled Heart,” which covered how words can affect someone. You can’t unwrinkle a heart! Moving on to fifth grade was what I believe to be all of our favorites. The “Growth mindset video” showed multiple students rapping about what it meant to have a growth mindset. These videos show us so many memories and played a huge role in an award we got in 2013, the ‘Cool School’ award from Fox 8.
That’s not the only award we got, though. Some of us are still ruminating over our ‘Runner Up’ award in 2018; Ronan Johnson certainly is.
“I still think about the D.A.R.E. tournament. We should’ve won.” Johnson, a Hayes alumnus and one of the participants in the D.A.R.E basketball tournament, said. “It was fun to be part of something, though. It was one of my first sports teams.”
The D.A.R.E basketball tournament in 2018 got us a ‘Runner Up banner’ after we lost to you know who (Lincoln Elementary School). Though it may not seem like it, waking up every morning and going to practice before school was so worth it, with endless memories and the ‘Runner Up’ banner, which still sits in the Hayes gymnasium today.
It is funny to think that we were sitting in the Hayes Gymnasium at one point, watching a slideshow of our baby pictures as our fifth-grade selves. As old and mighty as we may have felt for going to middle school the next year, now we are wishing time to go back, sitting at our desks at Hayes, playing cardio bowling in Mr. Manderfield’s class, going on field trips to the theater, doing battle of the books, and looking for Humphry around Lakewood when reading “The World According to Humphry.” The little things we remember from our roots, Hayes Elementary School, should be cherished to help us grow fully into distinguished young adults.
To close it off, the biggest takeaway and piece of advice that we got from Papp was, “Keep doing what you’re doing, follow your dreams and pursue whatever you are really interested in, and have a lot of confidence.” As you walk across the stage and make your way to a new chapter, don’t forget the memories made and lessons learned, and most importantly–don’t forget to pursue your passion and dreams.
