Alumna Teaches Kids About Community

Thanks to EWU alumna Julie Stannard and her class of second graders at Spokane International Academy, hundreds of children and families served by local nonprofits are now able to enjoy a bowl of cereal.

Stannard, who earned a bachelor’s in education from Eastern Washington University in 1992, says she started the cereal box domino drive to help young students develop skills that include caring for their community.

Now in its fourth year, the drive recently raised 2,850 boxes of Cap’n Crunch, Cheerios, Chex and other breakfast favorites that were divided among nine food assistance programs, including the EWU Food Pantry.

The project engages school and community support and then wraps up with a June finale where second graders arrange the cereal in a domino-style chain and then trigger a topple where boxes fall in quick succession as the entire school cheers.

“It’s a lot of work — but it’s so much fun at this point,” Stannard says.

Stannard got the idea for “cereal dominos” from a TikTok video and immediately recognized its potential for checking multiple boxes for academic and social development.

“I could do all my math skills with it,” Stannard says. “I could do writing with it, and I could teach them social skills and community involvement. I can do so much with one box of cereal.”

In addition to performing daily “cereal math,” the kids reached out to Safeway, Yoke’s Fresh Markets and Grocery Outlet in north Spokane and secured permission from four stores to distribute fliers asking customers to donate.

Fluffy’s Donuts on North Division offered customers a generous discount on a dozen donuts for every box of cereal donated. Fairwinds retirement community residents held a drive of their own and were treated, in turn, to a mini domino demonstration by the students.

Support continued to build through family, friends, classmates and other neighborhood businesses. As cash donations added up, Stannard scheduled a grocery store visit where the second graders learned how to shop on a budget.

Soon, the incoming donations outgrew the school’s storage capacity and Stannard resorted to stacking cereal boxes inside her own classroom.

As the end of the school year approached, the second graders eagerly prepared for the big topple.

“Since kindergarten, they have seen the cereal dominos, because the whole school watches, so, they knew it was their year to build,” Stannard says.

With help from two classroom assistants, students constructed a winding chain of boxes that snaked through the main floor of the academy’s schoolhouse, rising up and over tables, dipping under stairs and rolling through custom-built cereal tunnels.

Near the end of the drive, Stannard invited representatives from local nonprofits to visit the school, share their missions with the students and pack their vehicles with cereal.

Stannard’s brother, Jeff, a fellow alum who chairs the EWU Foundation Board, picked up and delivered a trunk full of cereal for the university’s food pantry while still other nonprofits relished their own deliveries.

“When I went to Family Promise for the first time, they thought I was going to bring a couple boxes. I said, ‘Oh no, no, no, you need to go see my car.’ They were so surprised.”

Stannard, whose parents are both educators and also graduated from Eastern, credits her time at the university with helping to shape her career, which spanned roles in Japan, Spokane Public Schools and now Spokane International Academy — a school that integrates community service into its curriculum.

“Eastern taught me the foundation of how to be a good teacher and how to teach,” Stannard shares. “I lived in the dorm for a couple of years and learned what community was. Being at Eastern, you are in a community, and I saw how we would help each other on campus.”