GRAVETTE--Administrators, teachers and staff at Glenn Duffy Elementary are busy making plans for the school's annual Buddy Day, which will be held this year on Friday, May 10. This event, a carnival-like celebration held in the elementary school's fenced playground, is one that students eagerly look forward to each spring.
About 20 activity stations are set up around the playground, with various games, face painting and fingernail polishing booths, water sprinklers, bounce houses, and a snack and drink station provided for the students' enjoyment and a "Lion Theater" set up in the gym for entertainment. Organizers have announced the event will take place rain or shine, and stations will be set up in the gym and throughout the school building if it rains.
Students are divided into pairs or "buddies" by their homeroom teachers and participate in each activity with their buddies. Each child is allowed to participate for about two hours. Each student wears a lanyard around his neck and is given a list of available activities. Volunteers then punch a hole in the lanyard as each activity is completed.
Volunteers from student organizations and school-based clubs on other campuses operate the stations to earn needed volunteer hours. Many volunteers help with this event each spring, including high school basketball players, junior high and high school cheerleaders, and National Junior Honor Society members.
The Glenn Duffy Elementary Parent/Teacher Organization pays for the bounce houses each year, and parents and guardians of students, as well as other community members, are asked to donate snacks, drinks and other supplies. Organizers say they are very thankful for this support.
Donations being solicited for the event include juice pouches, bottled water, ice, individually wrapped snacks, fingernail polish, sunscreen and face paint. Donations should be clearly labeled GDE Buddy Day and taken to Glenn Duffy Elementary. Parents sending monetary donations should send them in an envelope labeled with their child's name and the name of their child's teacher.
Those with questions should contact Melissa Pittman, [email protected] or 479-787-4100, ext. 5247, or Tyler Simmons, [email protected] or 479-787-4100, ext. 5247.