WILMINGTON — It was an impressive showing on May 8 at St. Peter Cathedral School in Wilmington. Mothers, grandmothers, godmothers and others gathered in the school cafeteria for afternoon tea a few days before Mothers Day.
“That’s girl power there,” principal Karen Banta said to the crowd.
“We’re here to honor moms, grandmoms, the women in our lives.”
Dawn Brown, mother of Asahd and Suenai, said there was no doubt she was going to be in attendance once the event was announced. She was joined by her mother, Patricia.
“It’s a good thing,” she said. “It brings the community together as a whole. We always support our kids.”
Nia Hall’s daughter Azhuri is in first grade at St. Peter’s. She waited for her daughter to serve her tea. Most of the students served their guests.
Hall said she wanted to be there to support her daughter. The cathedral school is a close-knit community.
“Definitely family-oriented,” she said. “Everybody knows everybody on a first-name basis.”
According to Banta, the school wanted to do something for the women in the students’ lives. The response was beyond what they expected.
All but two students had someone there for the event, which also included snacks and an early dismissal. The others could not take time off from work, she said. But those two students had teachers or other mothers stand in for their moms.
“Other moms have kind of pitched in and said, ‘You sit with us,’ and ‘We’ll take care of you,’ so that’s the great thing about this school. It’s a big, giant family,” Banta said.
“Moms are such a huge role model in our school community and especially in this neighborhood,” she said. “I think this is something we’ll probably do for years to come.”
Photos by Mike Lang.
