St. Joseph’s Chalks it Up Into the New School Year

The event connects alumni with new students

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Chalk is one art form that allows kids to express themselves.

But at St. Joseph’s School in Moorhead, chalk has an entirely new purpose at its Chalk the Block party.

It’s a bittersweet farewell to summer.

“It’s kind of tied because I heard fifth grade is a pretty good year but again I don’t want summer to end because summer is really fun,” said Lauren Elliott, an incoming fifth grader at St. Joseph’s.

Elliott is just one kid you could find painting the Moorhead sidewalks all season long.

“You can make different textiles and you can learn about those stuff and you can make different words and stuff like that and it just gives you a feeling to express yourself in the form of colors,” Elliott said.

Chalk isn’t just about getting messy. It’s about connecting old friends with new ones at St. Joseph’s School.

“We can benefit from those generations interacting with each other. It’s great for the kids to see that someone else was where I was and they’ve grown up and this is what they’ve become in life and to see what those options are as they’re looking towards the future,” said Allison Fulton, development director at the school.

Chalk is the way to build those connections because of its simplicity.

“Anyone can do it,” Fulton said.

The same way alumni are reminding kids who may be new to the school that they can accomplish anything the new year has in store, especially when there’s an entire family behind them.

“People here care and hopefully that allows them to open up a little bit more as well to the teachers and other alumni,” said Fletcher Biby, a 2017 St. Joseph’s alum.

When they do, it might just change the way they think about heading back to school.

“I feel like I’m coming home,” said Anna Biby, a 2018 St. Joseph’s alum.

St. Joseph’s was opened in 1880, making it one of the oldest schools in the Red River Valley.