J. Mason Tomlin Elementary School took its fall pep rally to the fields on Nov. 24 for a teacher-vs-teacher football game that was the main event for the school’s first rally since the start of the pandemic.
With the entire school in attendance, all eyes were on the 20 teachers participating,10 per team, who sported team colors to match Tomlin’s colors, green and yellow. The school choir performed the national anthem, led by music teacher Sarah Robbins, and the school band performed at halftime under the direction of instrumental teacher Ashley Taylor.
“Kids have not had the chance to be kids,” said physical education teacher Meghan Marro, who acted as a referee for the game. “We want to take this opportunity to bring back school spirit, because we know how hard it has been on kids for the past few years.”
The rally also celebrated Superintendent Robert Miles’ career in the school district; he plans to leave at the start of the new year.
“The physical education department wanted to organize this event for our superintendent, who is leaving us soon,” Marro noted. “Mr. Miles takes time out of his busy schedule to play football with the children during recess.”
The teacher game consisted of a reading of rules and coin toss at the start, and physical education teacher Nicholas Mitcho acted as a referee, alongside Marro. There were 20 minutes in each half, with two timeouts per team. But in the end, the green team was victorious.
The pep rally was an hour-long event for students and teachers to take a break from the classroom in the early afternoon before Thanksgiving break.
“We wanted to do something fun for the children and the teachers to say thank you,” Marro said.
The Mantua Township district will have an early dismissal on Thursday, Dec. 23, with the winter break to follow. Schools will be closed until Monday, Jan. 3.
