‘Kindness is in this world’: Waukee students show support for Perry schools after shooting

A Waukee elementary school is providing Perry schools with financial and moral support following the shooting at Perry High School in January.

Students from kindergarten, second and fifth grade at Sugar Creek Elementary in Waukee on Friday afternoon made cards to accompany a $5,400 check to Perry schools raised by the Sugar Creek Elementary PTO.

A hand-drawn card from second-grader Jacob Goble read, "And kindness is in this world. Everybody show kindness every time in your life."

A 17-year-old Perry High School student on Jan. 4 shot and killed 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff, fatally wounded Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and injured two other staff members and four students before taking his own life during the shootings.

Sugar Creek fifth-grader Tanishka Tharanipathy said it's important to support Perry students because "They went through a lot."

Second-grader Caleb Van Leeuwen said of making cards, "It's a good thing to do."

Second grade teacher Laura Butcher — whose classroom hosted the students from second and fifth grades to make the cards on Friday — said showing empathy is an important skill for students to develop at a young age. "It can only benefit them for the future," Butcher said.

Students at Sugar Creek had been making cards all week, and there would be about 800 cards to send to Perry, said Sarah Infante.

Infante — president of the Sugar Creek Elementary PTO and wife of Dallas County Sheriff Adam Infante — said, "We talk about kindness so much in school," and this was a way of doing something after the shooting.

Infante said the $5,400 check had been sent to Perry the week before.

Kayla Choate, spokesperson for the Waukee Community School District, wrote in an email to the Des Moines Register that the money would be divided up between principals in Perry to do some fun activities for their school, and that the money was raised after discussions with the Perry Community School District.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @pslifeisabeauty.