“Ms. Ball, would you mind stopping sharing for a moment?”

In what seemed to be an unknown student announcement, Pioneer teacher Rebecca Ball saw the faceless squares of her Zoom screen cascade into something of a heartfelt, virtual gesture:

Each student holding a “thank you” card towards his or her screen. 

“It blew me away!” said Ball. “It was an unexpected and unparalleled joy.  After the terrible challenges and fears and troubles we have faced this year, I was so grateful to my students for this outpouring of love. My students are extraordinary!” said Ball.  

Junior Billie Hoffmann, the class announcer at the start of class, decided to lead this project after seeing videos of the same initiative going viral on Tik Tok.

“When I saw those videos, I immediately thought of Ms. Ball because I’ve had her for multiple classes, and she’s one of my favorite teachers,” she said. 

Preparing the entire class for the virtual service involved the use of an Instagram group chat and several chains of emails. The response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic.

“It was a bit difficult to organize something like that with a class of 30 or so students, but as soon as I reached out to everyone, they were immediately on board and thought it was a great idea,” said Hoffmann.

Junior Lottie Winegarden, a classmate of Hoffmann’s, eagerly expressed her willingness to partake in the surprise project.

“I was so excited to do the Zoom thing for Ms. Ball. She is honestly an amazing teacher, and she is so sweet and kind,” said Winegarden. “This year has been hard for teachers, and I was so happy that I was able to do a little something for her.”