Six months to the day that a Lubbock boy died, his school honored him with a tree dedication, a balloon release, and a new program to inspire his classmates.
Brolin Hardin died in October after falling into a pool on a family vacation near Dallas.
Students and staff at Wester Elementary School held a school-wide assembly on Friday to launch “Brolin’s Club.” The program encourages students to “Live Brolin” by following five guidelines.
“We made five rules to have our students live by,” said Assistant Principal Monica Hernandez. “Those five rules are to be like a kid, be a friend, have joy, be fearless and love others, and basically it’s just a way of loving life and living it to the fullest, and we wanted our kids to sign a pledge to wear their wristband as a visual representation that they would do this to the fullest.”
All 507 students at Wester attended the assembly, where Brolin’s family was introduced to the group.
“We’re so honored that others would recognize him. Share that in the school, and recognize those characteristics as something that others could try to achieve,” Becky Hardin said about her son.
During the assembly, a teacher read a poem, and the students learned about the new program.
Following the assembly, the entire school circled around a newly planted tree outside Brolin’s classroom, for a dedication and balloon release.
“It’s a sad day of course, we miss our kid,” Hardin said. “But we are so honored that his school would put this program together and make the Brolin Club and make it a thing to keep him alive at this school and in the hearts of everyone.”
“It’s very healing to us to have people so willing to honor him and just show us love and love for our family and love for our son,” she said through tears.
“In this short six weeks that we were able to have him, he made a great impact not just on our lives but on the students,” Hernandez added.
“6 months ago on October 8 when he passed, I received my first ‘Live Brolin’ bracelet. There’s only been one day I haven’t worn it. For me it’s more of a visual representation of ‘Okay let it go,'” Hernandez explained. “There’s bigger things in life that can be affected.”
Brolin’s parents, sister, and extended family were in attendance. His older brother, a first-grader at Wester, was also there.
Brolin would have turned 5 years old on April 4.
