By Quinn O’Hara

This past Friday, January 5th, Lincoln Elementary in Clay Center invited the Clay Center Fire Department to visit after their Rise & Shine assembly.

The visit was the first of many ‘High Five Fridays,’ that will have local leaders and community members give the Lincoln students a high five after the weekly Friday morning assembly. Lincoln Elementary Principal Matt Weller says the events are a part of efforts towards achieving USD379’s goal of increasing community and stakeholder engagement over the next five years:

The team originally asked for just a few firefighters, but were pleasantly surprised when the entire department stopped by:

Weller says the team is already in the process of getting a new group to visit for every remaining Friday of the semester. Weller says High Five Fridays is a way to recognize the students, as well as to include the community and share what’s going on at Lincoln Elementary.