Saturday, October 30, 2010
By LINDA M. LINONIS
linonis@vindy.com
hubbard
For students, teach-
ers and staff at Roosevelt Elementary School, the 2010-11 academic year has a series of “final” events.
Sometime next year, a relocation will take place to the new school building, part of the complex for kindergarten through 12th grade on Hall Avenue. The building at 110 Orchard Ave. will close. It was constructed in 1921 as the high school with an addition in 1927 and gym in 1933.
Friday’s final Fall Harvest
Parade featuring Halloween-
costumed students was nostalgic, exciting and tinged with a bit of sadness. The 20-minute parade may have been relatively short, but the memories will last a lifetime. Roosevelt has 742 students in pre-kindergarten through fourth grade.
Raymond W. Soloman, principal, said the event won’t end because Roosevelt is closing, but it will be different at the new school.
“It’s more than a school activity; it’s a community event,” he said, noting that at least 700 parents, grandparents, other family members and community residents line the parade route of
Orchard and Stewart avenues and School Street.
“The community as a whole
really supports the parade,” he said. “The community comes
together for the kids.”
He was garbed as a pirate in the spirit of the celebration, and the teachers and staff also were in costumes.
Marilyn Choppa, a second-grade teacher, is retiring after 35 years. She said the parade had been going on before she began her career.
“It’s never been canceled, and it’s never rained,” she said, though this year’s temperature was a chilly and windy 48 degrees.
Choppa said the parade and Halloween parties that followed in the classrooms had a bittersweet edge for her. They’re the last she’ll experience as a working teacher. "But I’ll come to see it when I’m retired,” she said, adding that other retirees can be found along the parade route. Choppa also said former students return to cheer the parading students.
“I’ll miss being a part of this,” she said, noting that she has years of treasured memories. “Halloween is my favorite.”
Choppa said so many factors make the holiday special.
“I love the kids, they look so cute when they’re dressed up,” she said.
The veteran teacher said the Halloween event is one that makes a lasting memory for students.
“I don’t think they’ll remember when I taught them a short ‘a,’ but I know they will remember the parades,” she said.
Choppa said she’s had fun over the years with fellow teachers and staff, dressing up as playing cards (she was the joker), crayons and dalmatians to name a few. This year, teachers went as monkeys. Students were dressed in an array of homemade and store-bought costumes.
Richard Buchenic, superintendent, and Lucille Esposito, assistant superintendent, also came to watch the final Roosevelt parade.
“I taught one year here, in room 110, seventh and eighth grades,” Buchenic recalled. “I’ve come to see my son and now my grandkids.”
Esposito said the parade allows “children to have fun being children.” She added it’s a fun day for students; worrying about passing a test is for another day.
Reed Middle School’s eighth-grade band played. Surprise grand marshals were Ronald McDonald, Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ Scrappie, Youngstown State University’s Pete and Penny Penguin, Chuck “E” Cheese and the Youngstown Phantoms hockey team’s “The Phantom.”