FORT SILL, Okla. (Nov. 5, 2015) -- The rain was heavy outside Carriage Hill Elementary School, but inside the building children and Soldiers were dry and a buzz of activity during the fall festival, Oct. 30.
More than 30 Soldiers from the Noncommissioned Officer Academy volunteered to help as part of the unit's "Army Partnership with Local Area Schools," or APLAS program.
"It's important to be good stewards with the community because we work hand-in-hand with them," said Staff Sgt. Justin Baldree who volunteered to help. "I think it's important to be good role models. (Children) see Soldiers on television and in the movies so a lot of children look at Soldiers and look up to them. It's good for us to interact with them and for them to see we are just regular people."
Cheryl Scammahorn, principal of Carriage Hill Elementary School, said when originally trying to find opportunities to involve the Army, she suggested helping with the fair. With Soldiers manning the games and booths the teachers were free to move with their classes and interact with the students.
"We don't usually get to do that because usually the teachers are running the booths," said Scammahorn. "We had two Soldiers at each game plus a parent volunteer to hand out candy. This really gave us the opportunity to let our teachers be involved with our kids more."
Kindergartner Kenneth Jeffries came dressed as his father, who is a veteran. He said he wanted to come as a Soldier because their uniforms had multiple pockets for him to carry candy in
.
"It's exciting. I already have candy in my pockets. But this one is full," Kenneth said pointing to one of his top chest pockets. "No more candy can fit in there."
The event lasted an hour and a half and included 26 games and stations in addition to snacks, a cake walk and a book walk. The week prior to the festival, children participated in a pumpkin decorating contest where students voted on their favorites with the winner announced during the festival. There was also a costume parade where the Soldiers chose the winners with the best costumes.
"We encouraged the kids to come dressed as their favorite character from a book so it's been fun today to talk with the kids and ask them what books they like and who their characters are," said Scammahorn. "We're just trying to promote literacy and have fun at the same time."
Staff Sgt. Dale Chaffey also volunteered and ran the football-throwing booth. He said the event not only helped the school with extra manpower, but also helped to teach the Soldiers about leadership, a topic at the NCO Academy.
"(Children) are the biggest part of your community," said Chaffey. "Children are the future so anything we can give back to them to help them and let them know that we're all in this together and are all one team -- we'll take any chance to do that. A lot of us are away from our families so this is a good break to get out of the school and be with kids and have fun and see the smiles on their faces."
Baldree agreed saying oftentimes what is truly important gets overlooked by the work Soldiers do daily. He said events like this help remind Soldiers of what is really important.
This was the first APLAS event the unit has done with the school and Scammahorn said it helped the school get to know the Soldiers and vice versa. Scammahorn said there are plans for Soldiers to help with future events and to come read to children at the school.
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