By:Al Wicklund
MONROE — Imagination and just plain fun were in a neck-and-neck race for the dominant characteristic of the Brookside School Olympics held Sept. 29.
The race appears to have ended in a tie with much of the fun coming from the children’s and staff’s use of imagination.
Guidance Counselor Sue Krumm, who with Faith Vidolin, a speech teacher was a co-director of the event, said the Brookside’s Olympics had 22 countries unfamiliar to the world outside the school.
“The students created their own countries, made symbols and flags for them and wrote profiles about them. The descriptive profiles were read as each ‘country’ joined the parade of imaginary nations,” Ms. Krumm said.
She said the children created such countries as Croakland with a frog as part of its symbol.
“The students have been working on a study of frogs,” Ms. Krumm said.
There also was a land named “Oz” with a Tinman, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and Wizard. Its symbol included a rainbow and yellow brick road, Ms. Krumm said.
She added the countries also included a Louieland, named for a teacher’s dog, a golden retriever. She said a rendition of the golden’s head appeared in the Louieland symbol.
Ms. Krumm said, as a prelude to the parade, a torch actually carried by a teacher’s son as part of the relay to carry the Olympic flame to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics was carried (without flame) from room to room.
Student Gina Antoniello thought this was a nice touch.
“It was so nice of Ms. (Maureen) Sutter to let us borrow her son’s Olympic Torch,” Gina said.
The students competed for medals in courses laid out outside the school.
Ms. Krumm said the event had gold-, silver- and bronze-colored medals on red, white and blue ribbons donated by Shore Trophy and Promotions of Freehold.
Gina was pleased when she won a bronze medal in a relay equestrian event, where stick horses were used to “ride” through an obstacle course of tires to be stepped through, spelling to be done and hoops to be gone through.
“Everyone had a lot of fun. The medals were a nice touch,” she said.
Ms. Krumm said the school’s 420 girls and boys participated in the Olympics.
She said 310 medals were distributed.
As part of the program, the school’s sixth-grade peer mediators, who provide help to younger students, explained the symbolic coming together of the interlocking Olympic rings. They compared that symbol to the school’s goal of everyone working together. Doves, a symbol of peace, were compared to the school’s goal of harmony among students and staff, Ms. Krumm said.
She said three homing pigeons were released at the school and flew for home as a re-creation of the release of doves in Australia.
One of the Olympic second-place finishers, Justin Dinsmore, said the medal “looked so cool around my neck.”
“I felt I was in a mini-Sydney, Australia, throwing the javelin as far as I could,” Justin said.
Student Mark Gulick saw another plus to the Olympics.
“I liked that I got to talk about the Olympic motto because I’m a peer mediator. Now, everyone knows that they can talk to peer mediators. I think the Olympics were a great success and everyone had fun,” Mark said.
Contestant Kristen Poemer said the event felt like the real thing.
“Now I know how nervous and excited they must feel, I mean, they practice all their lives and they only get one chance,” Kristen said.
Samantha Jones expressed her appreciation to the committee that conducted the Olympics.
“Thank you for letting the kids work on the flags and the countries. That was the funniest day of my life,” Samantha said.
