It was a freezing cold February, but Ridgecrest Elementary School students warmed hearts with love letters sent to Cottonwood Heights.

The Cottonwood Heights Arts Council reached out to Ridgecrest Elementary Principal Sara Allen and the teachers about a creative assignment for Valentine’s Day. They had more than 150 students write and decorate love letters to Cottonwood Heights about why they love their city.

Many letters were posted on the walls of Cottonwood Heights City Hall last month. These notes were from the children’s point of view. A small sampling of the sweet comments from the student’s letters are listed below.

Londyn Freeman’s first-grade classmates expressed appreciation for certain businesses in Cottonwood Heights. Alessia Delli Bovi wrote, “I love skating at the rec center.” Delli’s classmate Corbin Webb agreed by writing, “I love going to the rec center. I love the Arctic Circle. I love going shopping at Smith’s.” Classmate Skylar Roberts wrote, “I love all of you. I want to live here forever. I love everything you built.”

Some children looked outward to the natural beauty of the area in their love letters. Rebekah Peterson’s third-grade student Isla Larson wrote, “I love you because we get snow.” Isla also appreciated the amazing landscape and added, “The mountains are close and beautiful.”

First-grader Andy Gong wrote in his letter, “One reason I like this city is because of the mountains, so I can snowboard.”

Javier Gamboa Matos in Rebecca Jimas’ fourth-grade class wrote, “I like to go sledding at snowy parks.” Javier’s classmate, Davinn Lee wrote, “I like to go to school because I like math and we are close to the mountains. Then we can go hiking or if it’s snowing we can go boarding, make a snowman and go sledding.”

Mckenna Karr, a fifth-grader from Yen Ju Chen’s class wrote, “Cottonwood Heights is one of the best cities because it’s home to my school. I have been going to Ridgecrest for three years. Although I don’t live in Cottonwood Heights, I spend a lot of time here. I love to see the snow outside my classroom or the bare trees and colorful leaves. The booming sun or the beautiful flowers. It makes me feel a part of nature.” Mckenna added, “I am so grateful that even though I don’t live here, I go to school here and I feel a part of the community.”

Jason Mumford, who is also in Chen’s class, said in his letter, “I love the parks in Cottonwood Heights. I like to go sledding at the parks in the winter with my family. My favorite park is Mountview Park since it has the best sledding hill. In the summer I like to play with my dog at Mountview Park.”

There appeared to be a uniformed Valentine’s Day theme of artistic work on cards from each classroom. For example, Freeman’s, Andrea Rowell’s and Peterson’s third-grade classes decorated their letters with a variety of Valentine’s Day stickers. Clearly Chen’s fifth-graders were encouraged to draw an image of what they loved with their letter to the city while Rebecca Adamson’s fifth-grade class used blue and orange construction paper to create a sky and mountain outline that portrays the images of Cottonwood Heights.

The Artist of the Month for February was the students from Ridgecrest Elementary school. Their creative and decorative love letters to Cottonwood Heights were exhibited on the walls of city hall throughout February.