NMS Students Scaring Up A Spooky Scene On Queen Street

By Eliza Hallabeck

Larger than life creations will scare away more than Newtown’s crows starting this weekend, when Newtown Middle School eighth graders will once again display their Scarecrow Sculpture Contest entries.

The scarecrows are slated to go up Saturday, October 23, more than one month since the students began scheming for their projects.

Art teacher Claudia Mitchell said this week that 46 scarecrows are slated to go on display by the end of the day on Saturday, and art teacher Arlene Spoonfeather said most of the students have been as secretive as possible about their projects.

“It’s always so secretive,” Ms Spoonfeather said, “because all the work is done at home.”

Every year, Ms Spoonfeather said, NMS staff overseeing the project hold their breath until the Saturday deadline finally arrives when the scarecrows are unveiled.

The scarecrows must be durable, have a part that can move, be larger than life, and banish a “demon” of the students’ choice. Each group must also limit spending on the project to $25.

Ms Spoonfeather said one group of boys said they are working on a giant cellphone. When Ms Spoonfeather asked them what demon the cellphone would scare away, she said they responded with, “Old people.”

A pair of girls, Jesse Sailer and Hannah Fitzgerald, were working hard to collect CDs to create gills for a giant fish, Ms Spoonfeather said. The girls put out word throughout the school, but just could not collect enough CDs. Finally, one of the girl’s fathers came to the rescue by calling the New Hampshire CD Recycling Company.

When asked on Monday, Jesse said the fish will be called, “Blue Fish, Blue Fish, What Do You Scare?” Jesse said the demon the fish will scare away is jellyfish.

The Scarecrow Sculpture Contest is open to only eighth grade students, and the students work in groups to build scarecrows that follow the guidelines and requirements of the contest. Each year, the creations are positioned on the school’s front lawn for residents to vote for their favorite scarecrow. Each vote costs $1, and the top three winning scarecrow groups chose a charity of their choice to receive the money.

This year the Gifted and Talented Education Students (GATES) are not required to participate in the program, and it is being overseen completely by the art department for the first time.

With a week left to work on her group’s creation, student Hannah Bartlett said, “Our scarecrow is scaring away boredom and the blank page. It’s like an angel of art.”

By Monday, October 20, Hannah and her teammates Noelle Veillette and Miranda Wakeman had named their scarecrow the “Art Angel,” according to Ms Mitchell. The scarecrow is projected by Hannah to be about nine feet tall, and came together in her family’s garage, displacing her parents’ cars.

“It’s not often we have to put giant wooden angels in our garage,” said Hannah, “so it’s ok once.”

Noelle said she came up with the idea for the angel while listening during the first meeting for the Scarecrow Sculpture Contest in September. As Ms Spoonfeather and Ms Mitchell explained the project, Noelle said she was drawing the first sketch of the “Art Angel” on the back of the assignment sheet.

Noelle said she felt bad for not listening, but, “it’s rewarding once you get a big chuck of [the project] done.”

Completing a scarecrow can also earn students an “A” to be used in place of another grade in art class during the school year.

Other scarecrows being worked on include “Norm The Robot Agent,” by Haley Kean, Lizzie Wojcik, and Katie Wolff; “Crow Scarecrow” by Baxter Hankin, Michael Triantafilidis, and Zachary Weiland; and “Michael Jackson” by Sophia DeVivo, Lilia Hutchison, and Shannon Mullins.

The scarecrows will be on display from October 23 until October 30. Ballots to vote on a favorite scarecrow, as in past years, will be available at the middle school and are in this week’s edition of The Newtown Bee. Ballots can be dropped off at NMS or at The Bee’s office, 5 Church Hill Road. Students will volunteer for one hour each to collect ballots while the scarecrows are on view for the public.

“We’re looking forward to a very successful year,” said Ms Mitchell.

Tag Sale And Bake Sale Happening Sunday

Residents visiting the scarecrows on Sunday, October 24, will also see a tag sale and bake sale for NMS Cluster 8 Purple in the front parking lot of the school.

Parents and students Cluster 8 Purple will be selling baked goods and assorted tag sale items to raise funds to help students in the cluster with payments for a scheduled field trip to Washington, D.C., near the end of the school year.

According to co-organizer Robbin Allen, the sale will help support the school’s cookie dough sale that also helps families of NMS students offset the $600 field trip.

The event will run from 9 am to 4 pm and will sell furniture, bikes, clothing, and more. Ms Allen organized the event with NMS parent Liam Heller.

Ms Allen described the tag sale collection as “an interesting and lovely assortment.” More than 80 families are planning to help with the tag sale and bake sale, according to Ms Allen.

“This is just a group of focused parents doing something to make sure every student who wants to go can go,” said Ms Allen.