Annual fundraiser supports field trips, assemblies and classroom technology
By Andrea Papagianis
Keeping with a pre-Super Bowl tradition, Palisades Elementary School hosted its annual “Pooper Bowl” and carnival Saturday, a day prior to kick-off at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
Carnival games took over the schoolyard, as kids and adults hopped across the finish line in sack races, lobbed rings at soda bottles, picked colorful animal designs to adorn their faces, walked for a chance to win a coveted cake prize and learned safety lessons from Orange County Sheriff’s Department deputies.
The main event though, is modeled after a Super Bowl game where participants purchase a square and win money when the quarter ending score corresponds. The Pooper Bowl, as it is called at Palisades, involves a grid—laid out atop a grass field—and a horse. Two winners took home $250 after the day’s mascot pooped on their square.
“It is a super-pooper weekend,” said Palisades Principal Steve Scholl.
The unusual game has drawn thousands of parents, students, staff and community members over the years to raise funds for curriculum, field trips, electronic learning programs, physical education and assemblies at the Capistrano Beach elementary school.
“This is so important to our whole school because the parents love to be involved and love to contribute in some form to their children’s education,” Scholl said.
The event was put on by parents at the school. Donations were made from numerous local businesses including Killer Dana and Hobie surf shops, The Surfin’ Cowboy and Brawner Boards. Kung Fu students at Sunrise Tai Kwon Do performed demonstrations, and the band MCD, made up of Palisades’ alumni, played hits throughout the day.
“I heard so many positive comments from kids, parents, neighbors and even the sheriff’s department, which had a booth,” said Denise Villar, president of the Palisades PTA. “It really takes the combined efforts of so many … and believe me, no part was too small.”
Discussion about this post