Wayne Country Day students 'treat' themselves to Halloween carnival
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on October 31, 2016 4:18 PM
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Jack Suber, 9, dressed as the grim reaper places a spider on the board while playing a " pin the spider to the web" game during the Halloween Festival at Wayne Country Day school on Monday afternoon.
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From left to right Tessa Currin, 9, Gracyn Perry, 8, and Clayton Stewart, 8, are in costumes for the Halloween Festival at Wayne Country Day school on Monday afternoon.
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Kids from Wayne Country Day School play a round of musical squares during the school's Halloween Festival on Monday afternoon.
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DJ Drew, 15, left, dressed as a T-rex, gestures towards Henry Edmunson, 4, in an effort to receive a quick belly rub during Wayne Country Day school's Halloween Festival on Monday afternoon.
What do an ice cream cone, a basketball player and a Tyrannosaurus Rex have in common?
Wayne Country Day School students dressed up as all three and more during their Halloween carnival Monday afternoon, as hundreds of students packed the school's performing arts classroom to play games, eat candy and have a good time.
Todd Anderson, headmaster, said that the event was the first of its kind for the school, which hosts students from age three to grade 12. Each upper school student, which encompasses grades 7-12, was paired with a lower school student, grades 1-6, in order to make sure everyone could enjoy the festivities without too much chaos.
Anderson said the older students were responsible for most of the day's attractions.
"Each upper school class was required to invent something to bring, and then any clubs who were interested in joining have also brought things," he said. Meanwhile, students played basketball, talked with friends and visited booths around the room set up by the clubs and students.
Senior Aime'e Barnes is the student body president at Wayne Country Day, and the carnival was her idea. Dressed as an ice cream cone, she moved around between groups of students, making sure everyone was where they needed to be and that each younger student had an upper school buddy to stick with.
Ms. Barnes said that the idea for the carnival was based on an old tradition she wanted to bring back.
"I've been here since I was 3 years old, and we used to have a carnival every year that was put on by the parents," she said. "That died out when I was around 6th grade, When we were trying to figure out stuff to do this year, I decided I wanted to bring it back, but this time have it be student-run."
While students in the adjacent visual arts classroom constructed a maze for younger kids to crawl through, the upper school students arrived from getting their younger school buddies. Martison Sharp, a 5th grader, said she was dressed up as a "1950's girl" because the store didn't have the "1950's waitress" costume she wanted.
"I liked how people in 1950's dressed, I like their shoes," she said. Martison said seeing everyone in their costumes was her favorite part of the day.
Anderson said that, while this was not a typical event for the school, he'd like to see more like it.
"I'd like for, at least once a month, to just have the whole school come together like this," he said. "It's good for everybody, it shows the upper school kids that, hey, they're role models for these kids."