“Today is one of my favorite days on the Charlotte Latin calendar,” Head of School Chuck Baldecchi said this morning — March 13, 2026 — speaking to 1,500 Latin students from all three divisions and hundreds of faculty members and staffers, all gathered on the Patten Stadium turf. The crisp spring air was electric with anticipation: at last, it was Sunny’s Day. Baldecchi told the assembled Latin community, “I hope you will make meaningful connections with the people around you today, and that they will last after today.”

Sunny’s Day, named after Sara “Sunny” Harris Hutchinson ’93, was formerly known as Community Day; Baldecchi explained how the day represented Sunny’s values of connecting people and illuminating their spirits: “Her legacy is an inspiration to us, and it reminds us of the kind of community we want to have at Charlotte Latin,” he said. He mentioned that Sunny’s Day is just one part of Sunny’s Legacy, which also encompasses the premiere scholarship program Sunny’s Scholarship and the annual award Sunny’s Honor, where the senior class votes on which of their members best embodies her values. Also in attendance at Sunny’s Day were her mother, Deborah Harris, and her children Wills Hutchinson ’26 and Sara Hutchinson ’29.

One of the ways Sunny’s Day brings Latin’s students together is that they spend much of the day in crossdivisional “families,” meaning that the Lower School, Middle School, and Upper School all spend quality time together: for example, second graders might find themselves in a family with eighth graders and tenth graders. Students learned each other’s names and then quickly bonded, finding common ground with pets and sports and art. Upper School students were amazed by the boundless energy of Lower School students, and found creative ways to channel it: while waiting for one activity to start, a family of cross-divisional girls had a hula-hoop contest, wholly unimpeded by their use of imaginary hula-hoops.

“There are some days when students get to experience all that Latin has to offer, with teaching, learning, growth, and opportunities,” said Dr. David-Aaron Roth, Director of Student Leadership Development. “We’re creating an experience where every single person on the campus comes away with a greater sense of self in relation to the Charlotte Latin community, the Charlotte community, and globally around the world.”

To that end, Sunny’s Day showcased four notable facets of Charlotte Latin life that dovetail with Sunny’s values of community: the leadership curriculum, service, the global studies program, and environmental stewardship. Students rotated from one area to the next, having a full buffet of out-of-classroom educational adventures.

In Patten Stadium, families worked on their collaborative skills by building structures out of pool noodles and painters’ tape: some towering, some wobbly. “The process is more important than the product,” said Julia Walthall-Eisman, Middle School Leadership Teacher. They also played a game called “Here Comes Mr. B,” where they had to learn movements relating to the six attributes in the Portrait of the Latin Leader (Curious Learner, Dynamic Communicator, Conscientious Thinker, Humble Collaborator, Courageous Advocate, and Resilient Navigator), and then made up new movements of their own to express those values.

For the service component, students worked on art projects to benefit Habitat for Humanity, one of Latin’s community partners. Flowerpots and seed packets were designed to beautify the homes of newly housed community members, as were keychains, key holders, and welcome mats. Bookmarks will be sold at Julia’s Cafe, the coffeeshop and bookstore adjoining Habitat for Humanity’s store on Wendover Road, further benefiting the organization. “We wanted our students to think about what makes a house a home,” said Lower School Community-Engaged Learning Coordinator Amy Ballaban.

While painting flowerpots today, an upperclassman encouraged her Lower School collaborator: “You can do whatever you want here. Just be creative. You’re doing a great job!”

The Lower School student explained her approach: “I want lots of colors that make you think of eating ice cream on a sunny day.”

The Beck Student Activities Center was home to a World Fair that centered on the six sister cities of Charlotte. “We wanted to give our students something hands-on and memorable, so they could understand that Charlotte is an international city,” explained Kelly Willis, Director of Global Studies. And so students did puzzles that revealed images of Limoges, France, played bingo with Adrinkra symbols to teach them about the traditional culture of Kumasi, Ghana, and built arches out of marshmallows that echoed the architecture of Arequipa, Peru.

The most popular station, however, might have been the one for Wroclaw, Poland, which featured thirteen gnomes, part of the traditional local culture. Kurt Coleman, Scholarship and Supplemental Support Manager, greeted students with groan-worthy gnome puns and then encouraged them to vote for their favorite of the gnomes (or, if you prefer, to make a gnome-ination). While some students were inclined to vote for the gnome holding the meme-worthy number 67, Coleman promised them that if gnome #13, which resembled Middle School Math Teacher Jeff Wolfe, was the winner, then Wolfe would come to school dressed up as a gnome.

Informed during lunch that Coleman had been making this promise, Wolfe was surprised but unfazed: “I’ll do that,” he promised. Look for Wolfe in full gnome garb soon — the Global Studies Program reported that #13 was, in fact, the winning gnome.

Environmental stewardship, which is interwoven with shared values of community, is part of the leadership curriculum at Latin. Experiential Education Coordinator Alex Beck said, “We wanted to bring awareness of the natural world and our impact on it.” That block of activities featured a game that simulated the food chain, where families worked their way through it, ending when they reached an apex predator. Along the way, students collected beads that they snapped onto a rubber bracelet, each symbolizing one link in the chain. A scavenger hunt sent students racing around the campus, where they found information about how to identify feathers and saw some visitors, courtesy of the Cabarrus County parks department: live snakes, plus a box turtle and a bearded dragon. 

“It turns out I’ve broken my fear of snakes,” announced Claudia, a second grader, after the hunt. “They were more chill than I thought.”

The families of students joyfully rushed from one station to the next, collaborating, forming bonds, and prompting new areas of curiosity. Upper School students and Middle School students were conspicuously good stewards of their Lower School partners, even giving some of them piggyback rides.

At the end of the day, a group of students sat in the SAC and reflected on the meaning of the day.

“We’re all coming together as a community,” said Lucy Hutchens ’28.

Eighth grader Maddie H. added: “And honoring Sunny.”