Putting Another School Year On Ice 

First-time skater Maëlle Lowe smiled as she navigated her way off the Kraken Community Iceplex main rink, careful to avoid frolicking classmates.

Fifth grader Lowe, 10, was among about 250 students from Lowell Elementary School taking part in end-of-school-year celebrations at the Kraken’s main practice rink, made possible by the team and its One Roof Foundation philanthropic arm. Though she’d rollerbladed before, this was the first time Lowe and many of her school friends had ever been on ice skates.

“I was a little bit nervous, but as soon as I got out on the ice I was like ‘Oh, this is just like a rollerblading rink’,” Lowe said, adding that having her school friend, Chrissy, out there with her for support made things easier. “Coming here, I think a lot of us were thinking the same thing. We were just singing a bunch of random songs and trying to avoid the conversation about falling. I think we were afraid of falling and getting made fun of.”

But after plenty of initial tumbles all around, those concerns quickly evaporated amid a sea of laughter, especially when students were joined out on the ice by Kraken mascot Buoy. The morning ice skating field trip was arranged for students in grades 3 through 5, while younger classes at the Title 1 School near to downtown got an afternoon visit from Buoy and played trivia games at a gymnasium assembly.

The school’s limited resources opened the door for the Kraken and ORF to help amplify the year-end festivities. ORF has had a yearlong partnership with Lowell Elementary, including a Thanksgiving visit from Buoy and a project that saw three new drinking fountains installed last fall.

The fountains came about after singer and songwriter Billie Eilish opted to forgo the customary artist’s gift she would have received ahead of some December concerts at Climate Pledge Arena. Eilish, long a champion of environmental causes, asked that the money for the gift instead be spent on a worthwhile project, which led to One Roof coming up with the drinking fountain idea.

Lowell Elementary, housed in a building more than a century old in many sections, had long been plagued by a lack of clean, cold and accessible drinking water at any of the school’s fountains. That scarcity was an issue that qualified for funding under One Roof’s environmental justice pillar, given many Lowell students are from low-income families – some even housing insecure -- and lack access to potable drinking water at home as well as at school.

Now, with the three new fountains installed and reusable drinking containers given by ORF to each student to fill with water, access to water is no longer an issue. Lowell students also took part in a subsequent field trip to Climate Pledge, where they learned firsthand about the arena’s environmental sustainability efforts.

The drinking fountain project, which came about when ORF connected the arena with the Urban League to identify a potential beneficiary, led to Climate Pledge Arena in April being honored by the Pollstar global concert industry data company at its 36th annual awards show in Los Angeles. Pollstar established the inaugural Billie Eilish Award for Sustainability and Climate Pledge picked up the first Sustainable Venue prize – with ORF executive director Mari Horita on-hand to accept it on the arena’s behalf.

Lowell student Lowe said the new fountains have made it much easier to get a drink without long lines waiting for water that often trickled out of the previous setup.

“It’s been good because people used to put their mouths all over the (previous) fountain and it was gross,” Lowe said. “But now, it’s gotten much easier to just fill up the containers and drink. And so many students use it. They once had to refill the entire fountain because everybody was just drinking from it.”

Lowell principal Chelsea Dziedzic, who was on-hand for last week’s gymnasium assembly attended by Buoy, said she’s been thrilled by how the partnership with One Roof has progressed throughout the year.

“This worked out great, especially ending things this way because many of our students have never been skating before,” she said. “It was a great way to end the school year and reward our students for the efforts they put in.”

Assistant principal Antonia Gray, who earlier in the day had donned skates and taken to the ice with the older students, said the opportunity on the KCI rink was unique.

“I don’t think many of our students have ever had an opportunity to do this, or ever would have,” Gray said. “So, it’s just been a really joyous end of the year.”

The Kraken supplied skates, helmets and support cones for the students to lean on as they made their way around the rink.

Pablo Silva, 10, admitted to being one of many students afraid of falling on the ice.

“It was a very new feeling, very different,” he said. “But after about 10 minutes it got better. I fell a few times, but it wasn’t bad. I had fun.”

Silva also agreed the drinking fountains at his school have been a major improvement.

“The water is more refreshing,” he said. “It’s colder and it tastes better.”

For his classmate Lowe, the frozen water of the ice rink was a perfect way to end the school year. At one point, she and Buoy high-fived out on the ice and spent time chasing each other around.

“It was a lot of fun, even though I fell three times,” she said. “It’s very slippery out there, but it’s OK, it didn’t hurt. And once I got used to it, it was a lot of fun.”