Top:Students in Lil McDonald’s kindergarten class brave one of three sledding hills. Seated in back is Eileen Getzen, in front is Taylor St. Onge.

The St. Ignace Elementary School campus was alive with the sounds of students enjoying the school’s first-time snow celebration Friday, February 18. While some students cheered for each other while participating in a snowball relay, others headed off into the woods on snowshoes. Teammates shouted encouragement at kickball games, as other students screamed in excitement while bravely heading down one of three sliding hills. They listened and learned about dog sledding and were given a horse-drawn sleigh ride around the school.

Above:From Helena Shepard’s third grade class, (left) Tyler Snyder and Martin Donajkonski carefully, yet quickly, made their way around the relay course while keeping the snowball on the plastic plate. At the end of all of the activities, with rosy cheeks and cold fingers, students warmed up with cup of hot chocolate on a day that began with a wind chill of 11 degrees below zero.

Students from the Young Fives class through the fourth grade spent 15 minutes on each activity, beginning shortly before noon and ending around 2:30 p.m. All events were supported by the school staff and many parent volunteers, said Bonnie Ledy, elementary school principal and event organizer.

Second-grade teachers Mary Pope and Carol Miller get students to line up at the kickball game. (From left) Lisa Worden and Drake Remer. “My main goal was to have something everybody can do and have fun,” said Mrs. Ledy.

Students were challenged by three sledding hills that varied in height and steepness. They used sleds purchased by the Parent Teacher Organization.

The relay race required students to run around a cone-marked course while carrying a snowball on a plastic plate. Participants first made a solo trek around the course, and then with a partner, which turned out to be a bit harder than it appeared, with snowballs falling off plates almost as often as students tumbled into the snow.

In kickball games, younger students were guided around the bases by staff and parents, while older students played competitively and stole bases.

One student chosen in a drawing from each class was able to ride on a dogsled while classmates lined up at arms length on each side of the trail, making a path for the dog and rider. Parent volunteer Connie Cullip, whose son Jacob is in the fifth grade and daughter Sarah in the fourth, brought in the Siberian Huskies and sled. She told the students that dogsleds once were used in St. Ignace and on Mackinac Island to deliver the mail.

Once outfitted in snowshoes, after a step or two many students ended up falling into the snow, before getting the knack of it and hiking around a specially groomed trail. The snowshoes came from a grant obtained by the physical education department.

Two 1,100-pound work horses pulled each class in a wagon around the school. Donna and Bill Amacher volunteered their horses and spent the day with students.

Elementary staff served a chili dinner Saturday, February 19, to earn money for spring field trips. Advance ticket sales reached $1,200. Proceeds from the event will be split equally among the elementary classes.

With a tight operating budget, the school no longer helps to fund field trips. “If we can finance our trips, we can go,” said Mrs. Ledy.