Students learn the principles of duct tape


By LEE MURRAY

TheNewsOutlet.org

YOUNGSTOWN

Woodrow Wilson Middle School students and staff excitedly duct-taped their principal to the wall of the school foyer.

Principal Jerome Harrell found himself affixed to the wall Thursday, feet dangling above the floor, amid smiles and laughter from everyone involved.

This was all part of Wilson’s schoolwide Fun Day.

This year’s activities included a basketball tournament, volleyball games, football games and numerous contests. There was a DJ and a very lively atmosphere. For $5, students could buy tape to use to stick Harrell to the wall. Judging from the mass of tape plastered over the principal, it proved to be a very popular choice of activity.

There have been five Fun Days over the past six years. The idea of Fun Day, said Harrell, is to reward the students who have had an outstanding year. Lots of those students were delighted to get revenge on their principal before summer break.

“It’s good. … Let him know how it feels” joked Nehemiah Bennett, a sixth-grader at the school who helped tape up his principal.

“I’m taking it with a smile,” said Harrell.

This year’s Fun Day raised more than $1,182, which is more than double the amount raised in previous years.

Earlier this month, the school had a Scholastic Book Fair in the school library, and school librarian Violet Simpson worked alongside Scholastic Books to earn books for the library. Students bought books for summer reading, and the school got books for the library. Money from Thursday’s Fun Day will further assist the library.

Increasing student’s access to reading materials is important to Simpson.

“This means the world to me,” Simpson said. “My main goal is to encourage our students to read.”

Simpson was pleased that students who attended the fair chose to buy books instead of novelty pencils and erasers.

“They got a lot more books this time,” she said.

The middle school, which boasts bright, modern classrooms and upgraded security, was part of the district’s decade-long building program funded largely by the Ohio Schools Facilities Commission that started in 2000.

The building is less than two years old and houses students in grades six through eight.

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