It was a busy day at Wood Hill Middle School last Thursday. June 18 started with an open house for parents, and ended with Principal Patrick Bucco getting a pie thrown in his face.
The open house, called a "celebration of learning," was an interactive portfolio of the school, said Bucco. Parents filled the hallways that morning as students showcased projects they've been working on this year in everything from music to science.
The pie-throwing was part of a larger fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund by Wood Hill Middle's sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders. The main event was an one-hour walk around the school property and neighboring streets, a project combining physical education with math and raising money. For the walk, each student collected donations for the Jimmy Fund in their own way, from asking for pledges per step, minute or inch walked.
"This really brings math to life, and makes it more applicable to kids," said Betty Singleton, seventh-grade math teacher. "They are applying the skills they've learned in the classroom."
The walk was organized by the seventh-grade, but the entire school participated - close to 400 students. Students walked or ran an 8/10 mile circle from Wood Hill through Brady Loop and back to the school, accompanied by teachers walking or riding bicycles.
The event was organized by teams of seventh-graders, who decided everything from which charity they would supporty, to what they would eat for lunch after the walk. The students also designed and distributed fliers to homes surrounding the school, announcing the walk and explaining its purpose.
The seventh-graders also used the walk for math lessons, graphing the walk's slope, pace, time and other conditions, said math teachers Dene Kouletsis and Donna Sunderland.
The pie-throwing was the brainchild of seventh-grader Alex Nohelty and the event's entertainment committee.
Besides seeing teachers and principals creamed with pies, seventh-grader Lindsay Rosen said her favorite part of the day was "watching everyone be so generous," and donating to the Jimmy Fund.
Students bought $1 raffle tickets for a chance to throw a pie in the face of Bucco, Assistant Principal William Fleischmann and more than a dozen teachers who had volunteered, good-naturedly.
After lunch, the entire school gathered in the gym. A plastic tarp was spread over the floor and teachers donned ponchos, safety goggles, hats and rain coats as the seventh-grade entertainment committee took paper plate "pies" and piled them high with whipped cream.
The gym erupted in cheers as one by one, students names were pulled from the raffle, they came forward and were handed a plate of whipped cream.
Seventh-grade science teacher Chris Brodeur readied for his pie by kneeling and sticking his tongue out at a pie-wielding student.
After being plastered with whipped cream, Brodeur grabbed a pie of his own and ambushed seventh-grade social studies teacher Katie Bent, which was met with ear-splitting cheers.
