The Tribe Has Spoken—

It’s Fun To Be A ‘Survivor’ At Sandy Hook School

By Larissa Lytwyn

While the sunlit park was a primal cry from the exotic locales featured on the television hit Survivor, the show’s spirit was still deeply entrenched in the deceptively benign, bright green faces of the trees.

After all, it isn’t everyday that a grass-skirted “wild man” tears forth from those very trees, followed by an equally frenzied rush of fourth grade students.

But at Sandy Hook Elementary School’s Survivor-themed fourth grade picnic on June 11, everyone was — literally — running wild.

“The fourth grade [formerly the fifth grade, preconstruction of Reed Intermediate School] picnic is an annual event,” said co-organizer Christine Crudo, a PTA member and parent. “But they never had a theme before.”

Ms Crudo is a self-described “huge” Survivor fan, a show whose legions of followers include entire families.

“A lot of kids are familiar with the show,” Ms Crudo said.

The picnic took a good six-weeks of planning, she said, to pull off.

Each fourth grade class was divided into tribes: Ellen Buckley’s “Buckley’s Blaze,” Kathy Gramolini’s “G’s Growlers,” Ms Eleoffe’s “EFG’s,” Michelle Grefe’s “Grefelasting Gobstoppers,” Nancy Handler’s “Handler’s Turquoise Tigers” and Carol Wexler’s “Wexler’s Wolverines.”

Each had team had signature colors, posters, and chants.

Gym teachers Pam Lupo and Jan Huot organized the games, each dubbed with Survivor-themed monikers.

In addition to the classic “Tiki Tug-of-War” and “Castaways Sack Race,” classes competed in the “Survivor Scrambler Three-legged Race,” “Survivor Slingshot,” “Survivor Sharktooth Spit,” in which students competed to see who could spit watermelon seeds the farthest, and the Survivor Tribal Stampede Obstacle Course.

The obstacle course, in which students had to twist through colorful plastic tubes, jump rope, and hop through hula-hoops to grab the coveted red flag at the end, was a favorite.

“While I’ve really liked all the games, I think the obstacle course has been the best one,” said Jessica Haitz, an EFG member.

“I like the feeling of competition,” added another student, Thomas Dunnelly. “It’s very exciting!”

Ms Crudo’s husband, Frank, played the role of the “wild man” at the games’ opening — and remained in his jungle-inspired duds for much of the afternoon.

“It’s been fun being here, being with the kids,” he said, after he traded his “wild man” job for one monitoring the refreshment table. The table was playfully covered with plastic insects and snakes and a small boom box set up on it played the Survivor theme.

Several cardboard Tiki-Torches rounded out the display.

A highlight of the event was “Teacher’s Challenge,” in which Sandy Hook faculty, including Principal Donna Pagé, challenged each other on trivia questions on topics ranging from the history of the Sandy Hook Elementary School to the life of Ronald Reagan.

They also had to taste and identify different “substances” (varieties of baby-food topped with gummy worms).

“[This event] was so much fun to plan!” said Ms Crudo. “We’re very hopeful that next year’s fourth grade parents will continue with the theme, now that we have all the supplies available for setup.”

Co-Chair Lynn Erhardt agreed that the event was an immense success.

She and Ms Crudo recalled one student declaring the day the “best” they’d had in fourth grade.

Buckley’s Blaze won the title of Ultimate Survivor.

G’s Growlers won Best Tribe Posters. Grefelasting Gobstoppers won Best Tribe Spirit. Handler’s Turquoise Tigers won Best Tribe Name and Wexler’s Wolverines won Best Tribe Chant.