Meredith SummerFest Celebrates End of Year, Start of Summer
The information and photos in this article were submitted by Meredith Middle School Instructional Coach Olivia Howe.
Music, dancing, games, flapjacks, and families filled Meredith Middle School on Saturday for “Spring into SummerFest.” The community event was a celebration of learning from the 21-22 school year that also served as an academic springboard into summer. In addition to Meredith students and families, staff welcomed fifth grade students from neighborhood elementary school who will attend Meredith in the fall.
More than 350 students and family members attended the Saturday morning open house. Spring into SummerFest featured interactive academic activities and games from each subject area, community partner booths, student performances, and a pancake breakfast.
Students who visited the Science booth planted herbs and vegetables in plastic cups to take home and enjoy over the summer. Ever wonder what it looks like to actually see the amount of sugar in favorite foods like Pop Tarts? At the Physical Education and Heath table, students used a food scale to scoop and pile the equivalent weight of granulated sugar from different snack items to visually represent the sugar content. At the Math station, visitors challenged one another to a game of “Math Dice.” Teachers sent students home with a deck of playing card and accompanying instructions as a fun way to practice math concepts over the summer. Language and Literature teachers provided free books and summer reading lists.
Community partners came with information on summer programming, food bank items, and Des Moines Public Library cards. The following organizations were represented: Freedom for Youth, Boys and Girls Club of Central Iowa, Let’s Talk, Jewels Academy, and the Des Moines Public Library.
More than 500 pancakes were flipped and served by volunteers from Westchester Evangelical Free Church – the neighboring congregation that provides a free pancake breakfast for Hoover and Meredith students every Friday morning throughout the school year. The gymnasium and halls were filled with music from the Meredith Orchestra and grooves from the Dance Team.
The first-ever event was not only fun, but meant to keep academic learning fresh as students send off for summer.