Holy Trinity students participate in winter sports activities during Catholic Schools Week. (Submitted photo)
Every year during Catholic Schools Week, all across the archdiocese students celebrate the gift of Catholic education by gathering together. This year, because of the global pandemic, gathering isn’t advised. That left the staff and administration at Catholic schools scrambling to put together a meaningful week for their students on top of all the work they already have maintaining a safe environment for everyone in their buildings. The task was daunting.
At Holy Trinity Catholic School in Kewaskum, Principal Amanda Longden and her staff knew they wouldn’t be able to take the students on the traditional field trip during Catholic Schools week, or do a lot of the activities they normally do, so they brainstormed and came up with a week full of fun. The week began with a drive-thru chili dinner, and included a crazy sock Mass and an inside-out clothes day. Students watched movies in their classroom one afternoon, and made Valentine’s Day cards for nursing home residents.
But, perhaps the favorite activity of the week was when the staff decided to transform their springtime field day into Winter Olympics. Longden enlisted the help of the eighth-grade classes to come up with different events for the younger students to compete in.
“They did an exceptional job,” she said. “It’s been a hard year. We’ve had to keep classes to themselves, and they haven’t been able to play like they usually do.” The eighth graders didn’t let the years’ events stop them from coming up with fun ways for their classmates to celebrate. Using the lot behind the school and the playground, students had dog sled races, a winter scavenger hunt, a relay race, a snowball competition, snowball target throwing, a snow angel train, and a myriad of other activities that culminated with sipping on cups of hot chocolate at the end of the day.
“It’s the first year we’ve tried anything like this,” Longden said, “but the students really enjoyed being out in the snow, and it started snowing while we played, which made it even better.” Longden said that with the help of parent volunteers, it was the best day that they’d had in a long time.
