GSB Stone Soup Day Shows the Magic of Working Together

With a rolling autumn fog setting a mystical backdrop, GSB Lower Schoolers and their families witnessed the immense power of working together at our annual Stone Soup Day celebration.

As one of Gill St. Bernard’s most time-honored school traditions, students, families, and faculty have celebrated Stone Soup Day each October to kick off our year-long service-learning program. The hallmark event was first started in 1982 by former Lower School Teacher Jan Hays who wanted to teach her students a lesson about sharing. Inspired by The Stone Soup book by Marcia Brown, Mrs. Hays put together a special activity where students each brought in some food to contribute to the soup. Stone Soup was so successful that the following year, Mrs. Hays and the librarian, Mrs. Lurie, expanded Stone Soup Day to the full Lower School community and our tradition was born.

After opening remarks from Lower and Middle School Director Kyle Armstrong and Lower School Assistant Director Jill Fedon, Mrs. Fedon shared with the crowd that this year’s Stone Soup celebration is dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Hays who passed away this summer — her legacy and lessons live on in GSB's Stone Soup tradition.

"Stone Soup is a special day that anchors us as a community,” said Mr. Armstrong. “If we each contribute just a little, then there will be much for all of us to share."

In preparation for the event, Lower Schoolers spent time earlier this week as sous chefs in the Kitchen Discovery Lab. Each class worked with teachers to peel, dice, cut, and measure vegetables to prepare their portions to add to the Stone Soup pot. Before that could happen, however, the pot first needed a hint of magic.

During the ceremony, 12th Grade and 8th Grade Lifers (students who have been at GSB since before 1st Grade) passed the “magic stone” down the line to our youngest student at the school, Georgia ‘38. With the crowd cheering her on, Georgia plopped the magic stone into a giant soup pot. With the magic now bubbling, each class took turns coming down to add their vegetables to the recipe which GSB’s Dining Team later transforms into a vegetable “Stone Soup” to be served at lunch for the entire school. In keeping with tradition, extra fresh produce and shelf-stable goods donated by Lower School families were delivered to the Chester/Mendham Food Pantry this morning by the 2nd Grade.

12th Grade Lifers – Class of 2024:

• Isabel Barsanti
• Caroline D'Arcangelis
• Peter Frantz Pendell
• Elizabeth Herr
• Lance Hollingshead
• Whitney Lapper
• Bradley Matthews
• Jack Meenan

8th Grade Lifers – Class of 2028:

• Olivia Corrado
• Sophia Corrado
• Amelia Litchfield
• Mark McNamara
• Krish Patel
• Ellie Procaccino
• Ryan Tedesco