Community Welcomes Kids Back to School

Terry Vavra stood on the sidewalk in front of Cooper Middle School, patiently waiting to be handed the colored chalk he needed to finish his art project.

"Are you done with your yellow?" he asked another artist. Then, seconds later, he pointed and declared, "He's not sharing!"

Such an exchange might not be uncommon on school grounds. However, Vavra is not a middle school student. He's Buffalo Grove's fire chief, and was among a group of community leaders who convened Aug. 23 -- the day before the new school year started -- to cover Cooper's front entrance with welcoming messages for the incoming students.

Organized by Cooper Principal Pam Kibbons, sidewalk chalking has become a back-to-school tradition. In addition to the fire department, representatives from the police department and Village of Buffalo Grove, elected officials and teachers were among those invited to take an hour out of their summer schedules to scribe the welcome-back messages.

"It's about the kids. That's why we do what we do. It's a nice team-building activity for our staff, too," Kibbons said.

Vavra said after the fire department participated in Cooper's Veterans Day observance last year, he was eager to help the school usher in the new school year.

"They are just very community-oriented. We thought, let's get the message out. We like kids," he said.

State Rep. Sid Mathias, R-53rd, attended the event and signed his name on a "Welcome back" message. "I kept mine simple and to the point, just like I do in Springfield when I speak," he said.

A Buffalo Grove resident, Mathias said he was glad to take part in the event.

"It obviously makes (students) feel welcome, which is the goal. It's important today that children feel safe and feel good about school," he said.

Pop music blared from speakers, keeping the artists energized and moving to the beat as they drew. The messages, along with hand-printed yard signs, greeted Cooper's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders as they arrived Aug. 24 for their first day of class.

While dozens of educators and community volunteers labored over their welcome-back messages, the fire department drew much admiration from the crowd with an eye-catching drawing of a cobra (the school's mascot) wearing a fireman's hat and flanked by images such as a fire hydrant, leaving no question as to who was responsible for the drawing.

"It's nice to see them in a different light," said Kibbons, as she looked toward Vavra and fire Lt. Shawn Collins, who arrived in uniform and by the end of the event had their hands and black pants covered in colored chalk. "Usually when we see them, it's an emergency."

After the rest of the chalk artists had packed up, Vavra and Collins remained on the scene, critically eyeing their artwork, putting the finishing touches on their "Cobras Rock" message, and taking advantage of the opportunity to play outdoors on a sunny day.

Collins, whose previous art experience includes painting fish on the walls of his kids' bathroom, said he has long enjoyed art as a hobby. "It's kind of hard, because I'm a perfectionist," he said. But whatever pressure he felt to get the images just right seemed to give way to the carefree feeling that comes with a package of colored chalk and a blank canvas.

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood," said Collins, as he used a mini-roller to apply sidewalk paint to the drawing.