Brantford Elementary students ended the calendar year in the media spotlight. The grade 5/6 class was studying a book about a young Japanese girl, who became ill with cancer after being exposed to the Hiroshima bombing. The story tells about an ancient legend promising a wish fulfilled for anyone who folds 1,000 paper cranes. Later, the classroom teacher spotted a newspaper story about a young woman battling cancer. It included a plea from the woman’s mother for 1,000 paper cranes to give her daughter hope. The students wanted to help. CityTV, The Vancouver Sun & Province, and the Burnaby Now, all told stories about the lessons in empathy found in this Burnaby classroom. When the mother came to the classroom to collect the nearly 2,000 cranes the students made, she told of her daughter’s improved condition and the magic the students had provided in each crane.