Pioneer students compete in mini-Olympics
Swifter. Higher. Stronger. Pioneer School students learned this ancient motto in Latin along with some Greek history for a mini-Olympics held at its Valley site last week. The school’s Olympics included opening ceremonies with international banners made by students, Greek costumes and a rotation of games from long jump to weightlifting.
“The children all came back to school excited about what they saw on the Olympics, and we thought it would be a nice back-to-school activity,” said Betty Burley-Wolf, the school’s director. The classes ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade also learned some facts about the Olympics.
“We’ve talked about Greece and the athletes. The kids did drawings, and we compared the ancient and modern Olympics,” she said.
At one of the rotations, 8-year-old Dilara Tezcan was being cheered on by her classmates and two adult volunteers as she rounded a relay-race course carrying a baton. She later said she liked the school’s version of the games.
“You don’t have to do the harder sports,” she said. “It’s mostly the fun sports. It’s not like you have to be perfect.”
Weightlifters opted between carrying a 25-pound brick or a bucket full of stones over a short distance. School leaders improvised a shot put competition with an oval-shaped rock tossed as far as kids could heft it.
For 9-year-old Mark Lawrence Norman, the ceremonies also offered a chance for some academics. Along with his classmates, he has memorized not only history but some of the ancient Olympic sayings, including one for the spirit of competition.
“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part,” he said.
EVHS grad wins essay contest
An East Valley High School graduate won a national essay contest recently that awarded him a trip to Anaheim, Calif.
Mark Dragich took top honors for his article in the NovaNET Extending Your Reach Student Essay Contest that he wrote while at EVHS. He wrote about how the standards-based, interactive curriculum helped him achieve his goals and increase his grade-point average before graduation, said East Valley teacher .
She said Dragich also won a trip to Phoenix in June where he spoke at a conference for Pearson Digital that offers NovaNET as one of its products. Dragich was accepted to attend the University of Hawaii, Wolferman said.