Olivia Carofano, Blogs Editor
@OCarofano32144
As the school year comes to close and the weather becomes warmer, new community building activities and events are hosted at New Canaan High School. On May 20 students and faculty gathered together on Dunning field and held a school-wide picnic that brought together all students, especially new freshmen and seniors. The picnic is an event, held annually, that unifies the student body as well as teachers before the school ends.
A multitude of special and enjoyable events were held at the picnic this year. Spike Ball, Volleyball, Can Jam and soccer were events set up by physical education teachers Danny Melzer, Kim Palmer, Priscilla Schulz and many others. These events not only allowed students to spend time together playing collaborative games instead of being in front of a screen. Students participated in these games and had a great time connecting with friends. Sophomore Natalie Hamilton expresses a similar opinion about the games, “I really liked playing Can Jam with my friends on the field. I thought that it was a great way to connect with peers and take a quick break from school.”
One major event run by the club Charity Link was the Dunk Tank. Faculty members and teachers volunteered themselves to be a part of the dunk tank in order to raise money for local organizations. Sophomores Anna Marie Armijo, Natalie Hamilton, Lindsay Hanlon and Chloe Perkins were in charge of running the tank as well as monitoring the students participating in this enjoyable game. “For this specific event, Charity Link raised money for the organization Person to Person which deals with mainly food assistance to people in need. With regard to the tank, we had minimal issues monitoring students playing the games but some teachers decided to opt out of being dunked which was an issue that we encountered,” Lindsay said.
In terms of music, English teacher Aaron Gallo has created a band that plays at school events like the picnic for students and teachers to enjoy. This year, the band played a variety of classic rock and 70s hits. Incoming senior Henry Tate, participates in this band and had a pleasant time preparing for the school wide picnic. “We play mainly classic rock and 70s hits and we had four rehearsals preparing for this picnic and during that time, we developed a set to play at events like the picnic.”
The school picnic serves as an event that unifies the community and allows the student body and faculty to come together before the school year ends. Senior Griffin Bramwit, reflects on his last school picnic about the things that he felt were a good send off before he enters college in the fall. “Things that I enjoyed the most were Mr. Gallo’s singing, dunking Mr. Staff in the dunk tank, and playing a soccer ball juggling game with my friends which I felt was a great way to end the school year before I leave for college”, he said.
School events like the picnic are a great way to bring together the student body and faculty before the school year comes to an end. “ The purpose of the picnic is to engage the whole school community to bond with each other to celebrate the approach to the end of the school year”.
