From Milan to Meridian: Elementary Olympics creates connections and healthy competition
Meridian's Elementary Olympics brings the spirit of the Games to Southeast Nebraska
What does Daykin, Nebraska have in common with Cortina, Italy? Typically, not much, but this month there's one particular athletics-based connection.
They're off and rolling in the latest event of the Elementary Olympics at Meridian Public School this week, a snow-free, indoor version of the bobsled, or skeleton.
Bringing the spirit of the Olympic Games from Milan to Meridian, elementary teachers are the captains of 12 total teams composed of students from all different grades. It's designed to foster a safe competitive spirit, while also building connections across the school community.
"Nobody really knows for sure what the specific rules are for the events, but they get an opportunity to use their creativity and problem-solving," said Matt Asche, Meridian's elementary principal and activities director. "So it’s an opportunity for them to apply their STEM learning, and it’s an opportunity for us to get in touch with our MTSS and create some family groupings. All of students are not with their same age range, so they get an opportunity to see their role models at different age groups, for them to see appropriate modeled behavior from some of our older students as well."
This is the first year Meridian has hosted this event, which includes their own spin on some Winter Olympics staples like curling and speed skating plus their own events like a snowball toss and a snow globe.
They're presenting the gold, silver and bronze medals after every event, and keeping tabs on the overall medal count leaderboard. The winner of the bobsled event was Indy Stewart, the fourth medalist for third grade teacher Tara Miller's team. Joe Adam took second place, and Ren Phillips' team won the bronze.
"We try to find events that everybody can participate in. We’ve had some pleasant surprises where some preschoolers have ended up on the medal podium, and, as you might guess, we’ve had some sixth graders that have ended up there," Asche said. "We hope to foster these family groupings going forward, where we’ve got some sixth graders interacting with fifth graders and all the way down to preschools, whether you look at it like a “big brothers, big sisters” scenario, or just being part of our Mustangs family."
The "closing ceremonies" for the Meridian Elementary Olympics are on Thursday, where the ultimate winners will be determined.