After a year’s worth of hard work, it was time for scholars and their families to relax. Dean of Upper Elementary Laura Kosley said the day was focused solely on having fun. The event featured a carnival theme, and students could play a variety of classic carnival games.
Two food trucks were on site, and each family that attended received a $20 voucher to use at either food truck.
One of the most popular stations was the dunk tank, where students had the chance to send their teachers into a giant tank of cold water. Kosley said the dunk tank was a huge hit for students. Face painting was another popular activity, and middle school students volunteered to serve as artists.
After burning all that energy playing games and dunking teachers, families could visit two food trucks offering the crowd American and Asian cuisine. As a part of attending, each family received $20 to spend at food trucks.
Students played a variety of carnival games with their families and interacted with their teachers in a relaxed, fun setting.
Connecting the current school community with future classmates made for early relationship-building among students. Fostering these relationships before students start class is one of the many reasons Mountain View has outperformed the local district for the last two years. Kosley said inviting registered students who plan to start next fall with the school was a priority.
“We want to give them the heads up that we’re awesome,” Kosley said. “Once they’re registered, they’re invited to all of our events. We want to help them as quickly as we can and establish the culture that they’re a part of our community.”
One of the day’s most popular stations was the dunk tank, giving students a chance to send their teachers and deans into a tank of cold water.
This celebration served as the kickoff event for summer vacation for scholars and fun was the No. 1 priority. There were no lesson plans to go over and no paperwork to be done. Kosley said she wanted students and their families to focus on fun together because spending that time together was important.
“It’s hard to bring everyone together and it doesn’t happen all the time,” Kosley said. “A lot of our conversations are about a situation or academics, and we don’t always get to see the parents and students goofing around with classroom teachers and trying to dunk them. It was a powerful relationship-building event where it was just positive.”
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About Mountain View Academy
Mountain View Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Colorado Springs, Colorado, serving students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies (NHA®) network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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