Steps and pledges = hoops and bounces.
The Traverse Bay Community School's third annual Hike-A-Thon again united the school in a common purpose: raise money for basketball hoops for their new gym. The charter school earmarks the proceeds of the annual hiking event, which this year expanded to include a variety of educational activities, for a special project. Previous purchases were playground equipment in 2004 and last year the proceeds helped outfit the school's new 200-seat auditorium with technical equipment.
The school building and grounds vibrated with excitement Friday as students rotated among a variety of activities. The central event was an approximately one-mile hike on trails snaking over the 250-acre property. Along the paths, teachers had contrived a treasure hunt for the students, who participated throughout the day by grades.
"I love to hike," enthused Sam McGinnis, a fifth grade student at the school shortly before his class' departure down the trail.
Teachers, staff and parents work to make the day special for the kids every year. They got everyone in the mood for the Hike-A-Thon with a kick-off event two weeks ago that featured skits and T-shirt making. Each student decorated their own commemorative shirt instead of organizers simply handing out pre-printed ones.
The day of the Hike-A-Thon, parents and grandparents turned out to help with the activities, pitching in with games, managing the schedule or leading groups of hikers.
"This fundraiser is very community oriented," said Cheryl Beyer, a member of the school's Family Council who has two sons at the school. "It's so cute: we had one kid bring in a baggie full of pennies."
This year for the first time, organizers chose a theme for the Hike-A-Thon: water. All activities that day incorporated water in some way, from singing water songs during choir class to a range of activities in the school's new gym. There, students learned about groundwater, how water flows through the ground, how clouds are made and peered into a microscopic world thanks to Slime TV.
"We looked at a claw, snail shells and bugs," said Hazel Tagovarloa, a third grade student at the school.
Students also made rain sticks, water bracelets and played species elimination hopscotch. The school tapped Michigan State University's Groundwater Stewardship Program for help, who brought out the equipment and curricula.
"My favorite was 'Your Weight in Water,'" said Peter Colombo, a fourth grade student, of the team competition that required students to transport jugs of water from one side of the gym to the other.
Mark Child founded the Traverse Bay Community School 11 years ago as a charter school and enrollment holds steady at around 200 students. With a small student-teacher ratio, the curriculum has a special emphasis on the environment as well as the arts. The school is divided into primary, middle and upper villages which roughly correspond to grades K-3, 3-5 and 5-8. This multi-age grouping enables a teacher to work with a student for more than one year, guiding their learning and progress through multiple development stages.
Being a small school where students attend for up to nine years, the Traverse Bay Community School becomes, well, a community for both students and their families
"It's such a small school that everyone pulls together," noted Beyer. "It's amazing the parent involvement."