A Family's View on Wilson's Family Night

by Jennifer Lin, parent

Have you ever designed and constructed a moon base out of wooden sticks, marshmallows, and uncooked spaghetti noodles? Can you guess which material had to be replenished the most often? Our family loved the Wilson School’s Family night, where students, parents, caregivers, and teachers had fun celebrating and discovering a wide range of activities that explored writing, science, reading, art, fitness, math, music, technology, and much more. The feeling of imagination and innovation was tangible throughout the school.

When we arrived, our daughter was enthusiastically greeted by her classmates and carried off to join them in a math Breakout EDU activity which combined math with puzzles, logic strategies, and a bit of escape room skills. Our family experienced genuine collaboration among students, teachers, and parents, as older students helped lead activities exploring plant parts, solids and liquids, fog bubbles, sound, and story projects. We were amazed at the giant recess games designed, budgeted, and built by the fifth and sixth graders. Playing huge versions of Guess Who, Candyland, and Human Clue sparked a lot of laughter and smiles!

Meaningful connections of ideas and people thrived throughout the evening. We enjoyed magical moments of star gazing with friends, Bloxels, robots, and watching students waiting in extreme anticipation for their Alka rockets to explode; as well as humorous moments of kids trying the tablecloth trick and getting gooey with oobleck. We chatted with the diverse and welcoming community of Wilson families—something that is so central to what makes the school special.

The school’s motto of “make your mark a good one” was in great form at Family Night as we saw kids helping younger ones, sharing of materials, taking turns, and some hand-holding and hugs among the little ones who were sometimes a little tentative about how to start an activity.
Family Night at Wilson was such a wonderful example of what the school fosters and develops in people—curiosity, confidence, creativity, kindness, and an inherent willingness to reach for whatever may come next.