The story of the snowman who brought winter to Florida happened in November last year when Robin Hughes, a teacher at the South Shore Charter Academy in Riverview, was reading her kindergarten students a story about snow.
She immediately noticed that the kids looked confused since none of them has actually seen snow. Hughes, originally from Kentucky, explained that it was difficult for the children to understand the concept of snow since they haven’t seen it.
This is when she decided to do something unusual and ensure her students aren’t robbed of the opportunity to enjoy the magic of winter.
Florida Teacher Enables Her Students to See a Real Snowman
Hughes contacted her sister Amber who lives in Kentucky and asked her for an odd favor: to send her a snowman.
When January arrived and Danville had a 10-inch snow cover, her sister could fulfill her sister’s request. She made a snowman that she named Lucky. He had blueberries for eyes, a nose from a piece of carrot, and twigs for arms.
She packed Lucky in a temperature-controlled package that had ice inside. She paid $78 to send the snowman 800 miles away and it arrived in Florida on the 19th of January.
The Kids’ Joy Was One-Of-A-Kind
The kids from Hughes’ class opened up the package and it was pure enjoyment seeing that it was a snowman. She says their happiness is what teaching is all about.
Lucky survived the transport, though he had one eye (blueberry) out of place which they quickly fixed.
The small snowman is now kept on a silver plate in the freezer of the school’s cafeteria. According to Hughes, she takes the snowman out twice per day. The students play with it and ask him questions.
As a teacher, she wants to create joy and happiness in their class and teach her students something that’s for life. Her sister helped her out a lot for this project and she also did great, said Hughes.
Sources: