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Sarah Simpson Column: You had me at cupcakes: no better way to celebrate an assembly

Pupcakes served at Alexander Elementary’s first full-school gathering in two years
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Celebrating with cupcakes it a Peace of Cake. (Submitted by Cowichan Valley School District)

The pandemic has been hard on everyone to one degree or another.

For elementary school students in second grade and younger, they’ve never known school without at least some type of extra precautions. It’s been good in a way because truth be told, little kids can be little germ balls and illness tends to spread around classrooms like wildfire sometimes so a little extra hand washing and sanitizer, and a little more outside time would be helpful regardless of the state of the pandemic.

One change that schools had to make that didn’t get the same attention things like masks and ventilation systems did, was that school administrators had to change the way assemblies worked. Some schools had them virtually in their classrooms via Zoom for a time. As things opened up a bit more, a handful of classes at a time would meet.

It seems like not that big a deal from an outsider looking in but those big assemblies in the gym are a way for the school to come together as a community, for the little kindergarteners to stare in awe at the big seventh graders and for the siblings and friends from different classes to have a wave and make funny faces. They’re an important part of school life, whether it’s for acknowledging student achievements, commemorating Remembrance Day, or just for whole school announcements.

So, when Dani Morrow, principal of Alexander Elementary held her school’s first assembly in literally years, she knew it was a big deal for her students.

“It’s always best to celebrate over food,” Morrow said. “When we were finally able to come together for an Alexander Wolfpack assembly for the first time in over two years, we wanted to surprise the students with delicious ‘pupcakes’ from, Peace of Cake, a wonderful local baker. The kids loved them and they were a cute way to mark our celebration.”

How cool is that?

Jenny, the owner of the Cobble Hill-based baking company Peace of Cake said it took hours and hours to craft 250 ‘pupcakes’ for the students but she’d do it again, if asked.

“Imagine having a principal so awesome that they order the whole school cupcakes,” she said. “They took many hours to pipe but so worth it that so many kids got to enjoy a wolf pack cupcake at their first whole school assembly in two years.”

Getting out of class to go to an assembly is enough to thrill many students — but being surprised with fancy and delicious cupcakes must have put them over the moon and that’s what the principal and the baker were hoping for.

“I love knowing I made so many staff and students smile this week,” said Jenny. “Huy ch q’u to their amazing principal Dani for placing this order.”

Check out Peace of Cake on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/peaceofcakejd and check out Alexander Elementary on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/alexanderelementaryschool