One week through the school year staff and students have celebrated Kabookie week, the tradition of celebrating a man named Jimmy Gerken, who always wanted to be everyone’s friend. For years the celebration of Kabookie week has touched the hearts of many students and teachers.
“It’s important to celebrate Kabookie Week so that we can all connect and show a act of kindness together at school,” Audrey Gummere ‘23 said.
Kabookie week allows for East’s staff and students to celebrate the smallest acts of kindness all week, and on Friday the assembly is held to give awards to the ones that especially showed great kindness.
“Yes! I thought it was fun and it was nice to get together as a school again and celebrate someone who was so important to our community,” Avery Leete ‘25 said.
The assembly is not only a time to give the little gifts to the little acts of kindness but to celebrate everyone together in the community.
“What I most liked about the assembly was the speaker Charlie coming in and sharing his real-life experiences with us as well as tying in Kabookie’s legacy. And how that tied into his footsteps of kindness. From his non-profit organizations to his stories of real kids battling sickness, it made me really think about what I could do to make others happy,” Avery Green ‘22 said.
And the celebration of just that one week brings in traditions and memories that will be kept in mind and shown in the future as examples. The meaning behind Kabookie is something bigger than can be explained, it’s friendship, love, family, and community. But mainly it is an example by which every person should follow.
“I think that we should celebrate Kabookie because his legacy was so important. Not just his kind heart and warmth he brought, but the way that we as a community need to keep being like kabuki and being kind-hearted, because we never know what some people are going through,” Green said.