Students have some good, clean fun

KINGSTON — Like a dirty car with “wash me” scrawled in the dust, Teacher Appreciation Week definitely didn’t go unnoticed at Gordon Elementary School.

In fact. Twenty-five teachers there really cleaned up or had their cars cleaned up, as the case may be, as PTA members Ashli Schumacher, Dennis Pryor and Brett Gregory organized a massive car wash to thank them for their service.

The soap, suds and spray were welcome sights Tuesday, but their beginnings started more than a month ago.

“Starting in early April we sent out a bunch of e-mails and made a lot of phone calls telling people in the area about our idea for Teacher Appreciation Week,” Schumacher said. “Everyone we came into contact with thought it was great idea. Today was the perfect day to do it.”

Taking a break from the event, Schumacher said she and others simply wanted to reward teachers for their hard work and dedication.

“I have had so many great experiences with teachers during my life,” she said. “It was an opportunity to show our teachers how much we care about them. We love our teachers here.”

Elementary students weren’t required to wash their teachers’ cars, but many volunteered their services.

“They all lined up during their recess time to wash their teachers’ vehicles,” Schumacher said. “We staggered it so about 15 students came at a time throughout the day.”

By the time the fun in the sun come to its conclusion, nearly 150 students had participated. Schumacher said the car wash was organized in a manner ensuring students an opportunity to wash their own teacher’s vehicles.

“We tried as much as we could to see to it that they washed their teacher’s cars,” Schumacher said. “When classes went to recess, those teachers whose classes were at recess would pull their car up.”

Junior high Options Program students were also on hand, assisting Gordon students throughout the day.

PTA member Dennis Pryor said he was pleased glad to see older students working together with their younger counterparts at Gordon Elementary.

“It gives the little ones a chance to work with the big ones and the big ones a chance to work with the little ones,” Pryor said. “There’s a great bond between these two schools, both showed a tremendous amount of camaraderie.”

Options program eighth grader Elsa Brown jumped at the opportunity to wash her teacher’s cars.

“It’s cool to do stuff for our teachers,” Brown said. “It’s a lot of fun. Everybody is getting wet and we get to spray each other with the hose while we’re scrubbing cars.”

Initially, ninth grade student Ross Bryan wasn’t interested in participating in the massive car wash at Gordon Elementary.

“I wasn’t planning on washing any cars. But once I got sucked into it, it’s been really fun,” Bryan said with a smile. “It feels good to help out our teachers.”

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