KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, March 7, the Parade of Hearts will reveal where it will place all 154 oversized hearts in the new initiative.

In the meantime, students at St. Elizabeth Catholic School in Kansas City, Missouri, have started their own parade of hearts.

“The main theme is to have all the students feel like they’re one community, they’re one, they’re together, they’re whole,” explained Alex McBride, a seventh-grade student and secretary of the school’s student council.

Each classroom in the pre-k through eighth grade school will decorate a roughly 2-by-2 feet heart and place it in the hallway. Hearts are decorated to promote kindness, inclusion, and belonging.

Second grade student Simon Underwood said he learned those lessons in pre-k when he first met Leo, who is now his best friend. Leo has autism and Down’s syndrome, yet Underwood said the two boys have a lot in common, like a love of reading.

“Everybody wants to be kind and everybody, of course, wants to make some friends, so I did those things with Leo,” Underwood said.

He hopes his classroom’s heart encourages other students in the school to embrace those lessons.

While St. Elizabeth’s parade of hearts is inspired by the upcoming, city-wide Parade of Hearts, the school project is unaffiliated with the official event whose mission is to unite the region with public art.

The official Parade of Hearts will auction off all 154 giant hearts in June to raise money for local charities negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

​From KSHB and Charlie Keegan
​Posted at 9:10 AM, Mar 04, 2022 and last updated 9:10 AM, Mar 04, 2022

The St. Elizabeth School Advisory Council (AKA School Board) is an elected group of eight individuals who volunteer their services to the school and its' constituents. 

Members are elected to two year terms. Voting members are charged with the responsibility of providing educational  opportunities for the children of the school through consultation, evaluation and support.

Applications for the School Advisory Council are accepted in March and voted upon annually in April. 

Click here for information and to submit your application to serve.

Click here to create your donation to the
St. Elizabeth School 2022 Fund-A-Need.
​Thank you!!

​Auction Website

St Elizabeth School is celebrating 100 years of excellence!  With this big milestone, St Elizabeth School's goal is to raise $100,000 to help bring the next generation of STE students forward in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.

All funds will go towards purchasing a NEW Science and Math Curriculum that will begin Fall 2022, a NEW STEAM Lab which will include a makerspace, science lab, video production lab and robotics center, as well as provide Sensory Pathways for our ECC students.

To achieve this large ask, St Elizabeth School needs the support from alums, parishioners and all who love STE.  Help bring the next generation of STE students into the ever advancing science and math fields.  Thank you!
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** Everyone attending the auction on April 2nd, 2022, you can donate now or donate the night of the auction, too! **

St. Elizabeth School will not be offering Camp Shamrock for summer 2022.

Almost a quarter of a century ago, six families found they shared the same dream — that their children with special needs could attend their parish grade school with their siblings and friends. Through hard work and advocacy, the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education (F.I.R.E.) was established and in 1996, three children with special needs were enrolled at Visitation and St. Peter’s schools. They were followed by other children and other schools became partners with the foundation, which raised money to help with salaries for para-professionals and special education teachers to support and instruct students with special needs, purchase equipment and technology to empower and aid students in learning and offer professional development and training to educators enabling them to address their students’ unique needs and help them succeed.
Today, 12 Catholic grade schools, St. Elizabeth; St. Peter’s; St. Therese; St. Regis Academy; St. Patrick; Visitation, Our Lady of Hope; Holy Cross; Nativity of Mary; Our Lady of the Presentation; St. Thomas More; Borromeo Academy and two high schools, St. Pius X and St. Michael the Archangel, partner with FIRE Foundation, which continues to raise funds to continue helping schools create environments of learning where students with special needs learn and thrive alongside their typically developing peers.*

*Excerpt from Catholic Key by Marty Denzer