St. Stephen’s 5th Grader Lucas Kwiatkowski identified a problem in his neighborhood. While walking around Coconut Grove, crossing streets was difficult and scary. Cars seldom stopped, or even slowed down, for pedestrians in the crosswalk. Having moved to the area from San Francisco four years ago, he remembered a tool used at his previous school – See Me Flags. These flags are placed on each side of the street, and as you approach a crosswalk, you remove one from the bucket, wave to the drivers that you are crossing, and return the flag to the bucket on the other side. Lucas took the initiative and wrote to his local city commissioner, proposing that these flags be installed. He raised funds for the first set through a lemonade stand. The commissioner loved the idea and within 12 days, the first set of flags was installed at the crosswalk near St. Stephen’s. There are plans to expand the installation throughout Coconut Grove, the City of Miami, and Dade County.
Our mission at St. Stephen’s is: Believing that each child is created in God’s image, we exist to educate and inspire children to lead by example and become forces for good. Lucas is a perfect example of this statement and we are so very proud of his actions to help make the city safer for all.