Middle schoolers float and fool around the water
Staff writer
As many as 40 Marion Middle School students showed off their canoeing and fishing skills Friday morning.
More than 100 students crowded Marion County Lake in the school’s annual Lake Day.
The event has been going on for as long as Principal Kelsey Metro can remember.
Students took part in eight exercises, including archery, canoeing, arts and crafts, making smores, kickball, family reunion days, a walking event, and a fishing station.
Each student was required to attend four activities in the morning and the other four after lunch.
Superintendent Justin Wasmuth was at the lake to grill hamburgers and watch students canoeing.
The canoes were borrowed from the public.
“We organize the event with a schedule and group them together,” Metro said. “This is a fun day. It’s a good day.”
While the sixth- and seventh-graders mingled together in the activities, eighth-graders stayed with their classmates. This is their last year at the school, and they will be together for the next four years at the high school, Metro said.
“We can’t get rid of it,” she said. Students start asking about the event about this time every year.
Some of Friday’s activities would not have been possible without the help of volunteers, she said.
“This took quite a bit of back work,” Metro said. “We all know it’s worth it.”
Metro had concerns about a weather forecast predicting rain, but the rain never materialized.
“It’s fun to sit back and relax for a day,” she said.