Local first graders attend annual Spring Fling
Five hundred first graders gathered on the baseball field to enjoy carnival style games including a bouncy house, face painting, a ring toss and cookie decorating at Spring Fling Friday, March 15.
“It’s really fun to be able to play with all the kids and help them decorate cookies, and just have a great time before spring break,” sophomore Anchor board member Lily Fitzgerald said. “I hope that the first graders attending will be interested joining a service club in the future.”
Over 20 clubs attended Spring Fling such as the National Art Honor Society, National Science Honor Society, Ecology Club, Future Business Leaders of America and Rowing Club.
“This event is community outreach,” assistant principle Erin Mellnick said. “We are trying to get our feeder schools and our first graders excited to come to high school and just to reach out to our community and have some fun before spring break.”
Spring Fling brought first graders from feeder schools including Roosevelt, Gorrie, Dale Mabry and Mitchell elementary schools and gave them the chance to interact with different school clubs.
“My favorite activity was the hockey because I love playing sports,” Roosevelt first grader Logan Morrehead said.
Each club that participated in Spring Fling put on an activity that matched their clubs’ values and mission.
“We are doing a recycling toss where the kids use a piece of plastic and try to get it into the recycling bin,” senior board member of Ecology Club Maggie Renou said. “I think that it is important that Ecology Club participates because it is teaching little kids about recycling.”
National Science Honor Society decided to put on a science–themed activity that also catered to the first graders’ interests.
“This activity kind of works with aerodynamics and balloons to see how far they will go depending on how much you blow them up and what shape they are,” junior board member of NSHS Hope Hotchkiss said. “There are a lot of interest clubs out here and we are more of an academic club, but we are also showing that if you want to pursue a more academic route in high school you can.”
This event also allowed members of interest clubs to spread awareness of their clubs and help kids learn more about them.
“We decided to participate in this event because a lot of kids don’t even know about rowing as a sport,” senior member of Rowing Club Race Belmont said. “They come here, and they are like, ‘oh, what club is this,’ or they see our shirts and they are like, ‘oh, you are wearing rowing shirts,’ so it helps them to learn about it and get interested.”
Spring Fling is an annual event put on by administrators and E-Board.
“I hope that the first graders have a blast and just enjoy our high schoolers and everybody enjoys themselves and it is a kickoff to enjoying spring break,” Mellnick said.
