As written by Ainsley Hall and published in The Journal on March 1, 2024
HARPERS FERRY — While it has been a full year since the students and faculty at C.W. Shipley Elementary School held their first LEGO Fair to honor Logan Kenney, a fourth-grade student at the school who passed away in 2022, emotions still ran high as the second LEGO Fair was held at the school Thursday.
Heather Williams and Connie Reed-Davis, both teachers at the school, explained that Kenney was diagnosed at birth with congenital heart disease and often was unable to go outside for recess, so he would stay inside and play with LEGO bricks.
“He loved LEGOs,” Davis said. “He could do them wherever he was.”
Davis went on to say that after Kenney’s passing, the school community wanted to do something to honor him, so they decided to host a LEGO Fair and contribute monetary donations in his name to the American Heart Association.
Previously, students had sometimes participated in Hoops for Hearts or Jump Rope for Heart to raise funds for the organization. The focus shifted to the LEGO bricks in Kenney’s honor.
“The kids loved it,” Williams said, as she also explained that this would have been Kenney’s fifth-grade and final year at C.W. Shipley.
His former classmates designed LEGO block posters on which they drew pictures and wrote notes in memory of their friend. Those posters were displayed on the wall during the fair and will become part of the event year after year.
More than 100 students participated, bringing their LEGO creations to share.
“It was very touching to look at the pictures his classmates drew that centered on all of Logan’s interests,” Davis said.
In addition to the students’ displays, members of an official LEGO Club came and set up a display of LEGO trains that ran throughout the day. Rob Brzostowski, one of the club members, has a student in the school and offered to bring a display last year and this year. A lover of the LEGO bricks, he said that he would be happy to return each year, as long as the school would like him to participate.
Also participating this year was Alice Fisher, a representative from the LEGO factory near Richmond, Virginia. Fisher had heard about the event via Davis’ Facebook post and volunteered to come as a representative from LEGO. Fisher also happens to be cousins with Davis, which made it a nice time to visit with family in the area, as well.
Fisher came equipped with boxes of LEGO bricks and worked with the children, who came class by class to the fair, which was held in the gymnasium.
“I reminded them why we’re here and why they are having the fair,” Fisher said. “Then, I asked them each to build a heart out of LEGOs. All of the hearts designed by each student were gathered on tables for everyone to see.
“LEGOs are all about learning how to play,” Fisher said. “We love to play, and we love to inspire kids to see what they can do.”
Fisher said that there were some great creations in the fair — some built from kits and some from the imagination.
Along with reminding the school and the community about Kenney and sharing memories, the event was also a fundraiser. Davis explained that the goal for the event was set at $500. However, as of mid-afternoon Thursday, donations had exceeded $2,700.