Her humor and involvement of the audience in her performance had the students suggesting lyrics. The multi-purpose room got thoughtfully quiet, however, after Sterry told the story of “Hey, Little Ant,” by Phillip Hoose. The book is a dialogue between a child and an ant, in which the ant pleads with the child not to step on it.

“If you were me and I were you, what would you want me to do?” was the question the children are left to answer for themselves.

Then Sterry introduced the “funniest song I know,” a piece about a jellyfish that, within minutes, had the students laughing as they sang and bent their bodies into shapes at her direction.

“It’s hard to be mad when you’re laughing together,” Sterry said to them.

Originally from New Jersey and now living in Oregon, Sterry delivers her empowering and positive messages at schools, libraries and corporate settings nationally and internationally. She has a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and an associate degree in nursing.

Janet Bowen, who was director of Homer Council of the Arts at the time, met Sterry at an Arts Northwest presenters conference two years ago.

“She was vivacious and enthusiastic, and Kodiak decided to bring her up,” said Bowen, now Fireweed Academy’s outreach coordinator and administrative specialist. “Sterry called me this summer, said she was going to be in Alaska and asked if we were interested.”

Although schools weren’t in session at the time of Sterry’s call, Bowen was able to contact Kiki Abrahamson, Fireweed Academy’s administrator, and Abrahamson expressed an interest in bringing Sterry to Homer.

“I went on (Sterry’s) Web site and she looked like such an amazing entertainer, working with conflict resolution, getting through to kids, teaching them respect, that we thought it would be a great way to start the school year,” Abrahamson said of sharing Sterry with West Homer students. “I asked her to do a performance on respect and getting along with each other.”

Photo by McKibben Jackinsky, Homer News Anne-Louise Sterry shared her message of community-building with students at Fireweed Academy and West Homer Elementary School.

“It’s fabulous,” Abrahamson said. “Charlie is doing an outstanding job coordinating the two staffs and overseeing the operations of both schools. There’s a palpable difference in the atmosphere this year, compared to last year.”

Fireweed Academy no longer has a waiting list as it did in past years, it has an enrollment of 68 and a staff that includes four teachers, an administrative aide, an administrative specialist and a half-time custodian.

“Next year we’re hoping to add grade levels and another classroom and another teacher,” Abrahamson said.

Walsworth agreed with Abraham-son’s comparison of the current school year to the previous one.

“Things are working a lot better this year,” Walsworth said. “They worked fine last year, but it was like two families getting to know each other. This year, everybody is under the same roof and just has different directions after the recess bell rings.”

Fireweed and West Homer, with 220 students, share recess and lunch times, as well as after-school activities.

“Basically, we’re just two school programs under one roof and we mix and match, and the kids do their own thing academically and hang out a little bit together and it works just fine,” Walsworth said.

At the end of Monday’s hour-long assembly, Sterry, as well as students, faculty, staff and parents from Fireweed and West Homer were singing, “In this school, no fear. In this school, deep peace. In this school, great happiness. In this school, safety.”

Photo by McKibben Jackinsky, Homer News Aunt Lena, a character developed by Anne-Louise Sterry based on Sterry's Italian aunts, also appeared at the assembly