An adorable six-year-old is now a celebrity at Dogwood Elementary in Germantown, TN, after finding a lost engagement ring during a treasure hunt on the school grounds.
The treasure hunt was initiated by kindergarten teacher Ann Wallace in an effort to support her friend, first-grade teacher Sabrina Mink, who lost her engagement ring and wedding band at the school two days earlier.
On Saturday, March 4, Mink, her husband and her daughter prepared for a late afternoon outing at the playground of the school where Mink teaches. In the parking lot of the school, Mink took off her diamond engagement ring and wedding band before putting sunscreen on her daughter. She deposited the ring in her husband's T-shirt pocket for safekeeping.
A little after 7 p.m., Mink and her family were back at home when she remembered that her rings were still in her husband's pocket. When she went to retrieve them, she and her husband were terrified to see a giant hole in the bottom of the pocket and no sign of the rings.
“We panicked,” Mink told the Dogwood Elementary School website. “There were five of us that went back to the park that night with flashlights.”
They quickly found the wedding band in the parking lot, but the engagement ring remained elusive. They searched the parking lot and the playground and came up empty. A return to the scene during daylight hours on Sunday proved fruitless.
Mink posted a lost-ring message on the Facebook Germantown Bulletin Board and emailed the Dogwood Elementary School staff.
On Monday, Mink's fellow teachers searched the grounds as they walked to class. One first-grade teacher scanned the area with a metal detector.
Cleverly, kindergarten teacher Wallace told her class that they would be going on a treasure hunt during recess. Then young Scarlett Arnold asked her teacher what they were looking for.
“When Ms. Wallace said we were looking for a ring, I knew where it was,” the youngster told the Dogwood Elementary School website.
You see, Arnold had been at the playground on Saturday, as well.
“I saw it shining in the rocks, so I buried it like treasure,” she said.
“I didn’t believe her at first,” Wallace said, “but she brought it back. I was ecstatic for my friend.”
Arnold's mom told local TV station WREG that her daughter has a new nickname.
“I think when she’s walking down the hall, everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, the ring finder,’” the mom reported.
Mink was thankful that her colleague came up with the idea of a recess treasure hunt and mentioned the lost ring. It was serendipitous that the child who buried the treasure was in that very class.
“It was so sweet that everyone was trying to help,” Mink said. “The events that led me to lose [the rings] were so silly, and the events that led to finding it… you can’t make them up.”
The Dogwood Elementary School website reports that young Arnold was rewarded for her responsible thinking with a supply of Skittles.
Credits: Teacher and student photo via Dogwood Elementary School website (des.gmsdk12.org). Screen captures via wreg.com.