In the Eaton community, it is a priority to preach what it truly means to be a part of a family within the town. During Homecoming, the district and high school students take this opportunity to show what this really means. 8.1 miles away from EHS, in the middle of nowhere, a third of Eaton’s elementary students attend Galeton Elementary School. Due to the fact that Galeton elementary students become a part of the Eaton community after 5th grade, the Galeton and Eaton community are closely intertwined with each other. The week leading up to Homecoming, all Eaton schools enjoy showing their school spirit to the town. From the spirit week, annual activities, and traditions homecoming week is special for everyone involved. EHS STUCO has recently started an annual visit to Galeton Elementary to host an assembly for the students. “It is an amazing opportunity to show the kids how much pride we take in our school, and show them what being a red looks like,” says Trinity Salberg.
This assembly is full of games, chants led by the EHS cheerleaders, and connections built between the current leaders of EHS and the future kids to come. Members of the volleyball, football, softball, cross country, cheerleading, and STUCO will be attending. Each club or sport will be leading a certain game, and demonstrating it for the kids. This year the assembly will be led by junior Chloe Crider. Crider says,“The kids love playing the games especially if there are treats involved, and it’s really for the highschool students to bond with the little kids that will eventually come to highschool.”
Interactions between EHS students and the Galeton kids was a very sentimental and eye opening experience. It brought to the high schoolers eyes how much it truly meant for the kids to be a part of something so special. For an assembly that only lasted 40 minutes all who were involved from EHS thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Andrew Loyd says, “The musical chairs were the best cause all the kids had fun, it was so cool to see the excitement on the kids’ faces while they played this game.” Leaders of the high school contributing to the kids’ enjoyment shows how much a simple act of kindness can make someone’s day.
This assembly was not only for EHS students to show their school spirit during the homecoming season but to show how Galeton is a part of our Eaton family. Trinity Salberg was one of the students that attended the Galeton assembly and ended up having a great story to tell. Other EHS student Shane Welle talked about an interaction he had with a fellow teacher at EHS. Shane said, “When talking to Mrs. Loyd, we had a great conversation about the Galeton assembly and she proceeded to tell me how a child came up to a teacher at Galeton and began to cry due to this being the best day she has had in a while. In the children’s eyes this tradition has become very important to them and is very special. As EHS STUCO continues to do this tradition we hope to leave just as big of an impact on the school as a whole as it did with this one little girl.
