Photo by Chris Sykes Madison Avenue School Principal Ginger Osterhoudt, right, stands with fifth-grader Oliviah Laterrion on Friday, June 16, during the school's Fun Day.
Madison Avenue School Principal Ginger Osterhoudt, right, stands with fifth-grader Oliviah Laterrion on Friday, June 16, during the school’s Fun Day.
IRVINGTON, NJ — Madison Avenue School students and faculty celebrated the end of the 2016-17 school year a few days early, with Fun Day on Friday, June 16.
“This is wonderful event that is done by our PTA, with Mrs. Kim Spann, our secretary, taking the lead on many of the initiatives,” said Principal Ginger Osterhoudt on Friday, June 16. “We had a petting zoo here today for the children; pony rides; all kinds of bouncy toys; and I think the children had a wonderful time. It really was a fun day. It’s always a great opportunity for us to bring parents together. Students were out here, manning the cotton candy machine and the popcorn machine, and we had a dance contest, so it was really a great day for everyone involved.”
Fifth-grader Oliviah Laterrion, 10, agreed with her principal Friday, June 16, saying, “I had a good time at Fun Day this year,” adding that she enjoys math and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.
Another fifth-grader, Aaramis Wells, 11, said he also had a lot of fun at Fun Day.
“My favorite subject is science, because I love learning about the past and things that can happen before we even see them,” said Wells, on Friday, June 16. “Today was fun, because I got to hang out with my friends and run around. I’m going to continue football practice and I might have a little fun while I’m at home this summer.”
Wells’ mother, Monique Wells, said Fun Day was a good time for her son and the other students, as well as being something good for them to participate in before the end of the school year.
“Miss O does a phenomenal job with these children,” said Wells on Friday, June 16. “I love her, as a leader in this building. The children, for the most part, they’re children, but she keeps a very, very, very firm hand on them, a very disciplined hand, and she keeps education first.”
But since it was Fun Day, Spann said it was OK to focus on fun instead of learning for a day.
“We all did it together,” said Spann on Friday, June 16. “Just seeing the children really enjoy themselves today was great. We work hard all the time.”
Parent coordinator Synthia Pinder agreed that it was OK to put fun first for one day.
“We were just enjoying the day and the children out here having fun and all the cooking and everything,” said Pinder on Friday, June 16. “Mrs. Spann runs this event every year. We are her helpers.”
Although he isn’t a Madison Avenue School parent, Eric Dixon was still out there with Spann, Pinder and Osterhoudt to help out, working the grill on the hot summer day.
“Madison Avenue School is my alma mater. 1976. Miss Gallos was my fifth-grade teacher,” said Dixon on Friday, June 16. “I’m just giving back to my school. We’re going to have a new building pretty soon and I’m just here with my Madison Avenue people.”
The school year might be coming to an end, but Osterhoudt said she is already looking forward to next year, when the new Madison Avenue School should finally be built and ready for students. They have been using the old Mount Vernon Avenue School, adjacent to the new Mount Vernon Avenue School, as a temporary home while the old Madison Avenue School was demolished and replaced, and that job should be soon be done.
“Next Wednesday is a half day and we will be closing for this school year,” Osterhoudt said. “They’ve already taken down the old building and they’re scheduled to break ground in August. It’s time. We need a new building. This building is old and has a wonderful, wonderful character about it, but there’s some things that we need to have with our new updated world and technology. It served us well, but our students deserve to be in a new, technology-proficient building.”
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