A hopping good time

Students from West and East Elementary Schools enjoy joint Spring Fling

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West Elementary School Principal Dr. Jay Page, left, and East Elementary School Principal David Wiggins, right, pose with their carrots for the camera Thursday at the Spring Fling. (Christy Perry for The Cullman Tribune)

CULLMAN, Ala. – Two over-sized bunnies competed in a “bunny hop” race Thursday morning at West Elementary School (WES). East Elementary School (EES) Principal David Wiggins and WES Principal Dr. Jay Page raced for carrots as second and third graders from both schools celebrated their first Spring Fling. The principals said they hope the event will be the first of many joint activities between the two schools.

The bunny hop showdown between the schools’ leaders kicked off a day of fun for the kids from East and West. Page and Wiggins had to hop down the field and retrieve carrots and hop back with the carrots in their mouths. At the end of the two-minute race, both principals had fetched six carrots, resulting in a tied race. Based on the cheers, the kids loved seeing their principals’ sillier sides.

Asked how he was feeling after the intense bunny hop battle, Wiggins laughed, as he fought to catch his breath, “Well, I didn’t die. It was fun! Dr. Page and I are huge on unifying the schools in the system. East and West are really one school. These kids were friends at (Cullman City) Primary and we want to bring them up together as much as we can.”

Page and Wiggins joked after the race about each other’s performances.

Smiled Wiggins, “There was no training for this. I think we did great the first carrot.”

Page felt the first two carrots were OK.

Wiggins laughed with Page, “That third one I was going to start a little skip and I look over at you, and I’m laughing as you are just skipping away.”

WES Counselor Elizabeth Shaddix first approached Page about having a Spring Fling, which led to Page calling Wiggins to extend the invitation.

Shaddix explained, “We love this; it’s easy and it brings the fun back into school. We could not have done this without our sponsors.”

Page added, “Mrs. Shaddix needs to get a lot of the credit for it. She came up with it. It was her idea.”

The WES student council also worked hard to help with the Spring Fling.

Student council president Olivia Dover was busy stuffing eggs for the Easter egg hunt; she shared, “The second and third graders from East and West are having an Easter egg hunt. It’s called the Spring Fling. They are going to have some games with candy and stuff.”

Dover estimated that they had 5,000-6,000 eggs ready for the egg hunt.

The Spring Fling and its activity stations were sponsored by area businesses, including Colvard Construction, If the Shoe Fits, Knight-Free Insurance, Nearen Construction, Secure Storage Solutions, Burks Brothers Pools & Spas and Publix.

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