The following article was written by Aidan C. ('24):
On Thursday, November 2, Erin Zabucovek and her Grade 12 Spanish class represented Riverstone at JUMP's Día de Los Muertos celebration. The class had spent the past month designing an exhibit called Harper’s Garden, after the garden the late Jim Harper established on campus. The garden included three altars, twenty plastic trees, a lantern-lined path, and lots of fun and games.
One altar memorialized the late Jim Harper, who worked as an art teacher at Riverstone for 20 years before passing away in 2020. The second was for Brianna Flanders, a lively, artistic elementary school student who passed away in 2008. The last altar was for other members of the class’s family and friends who had passed away.
When the exhibit opened to the public, visitors were encouraged to write the name of a loved one who passed away on an origami butterfly. They would then hang the butterfly on one of the surrounding trees. By the end of the event, hundreds of butterflies decorated the garden, representative of the approximately 1,000 visitors who had stopped by. Throughout the evening, Riverstone volunteers operated games, welcomed visitors, handed out gifts, and explained the purpose of the butterflies. Their contributions created a lively atmosphere where the lives of Jim Harper, Brianna Flanders, and many more were remembered and celebrated by the Boise community.
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