She said the return to in-person learning has been beneficial and that has received strong support from volunteers and families with special activities highlighting the educational experience for the students. Some activities were moved outside to take advantage of nice fall weather as well as to avoid larger groups of people indoors in the face of the past pandemic warnings.
“It has been such a team effort this year making sure students are learning and making wonderful memories,” Merz said. “Families are supportive. Any time word goes out asking, it comes in quickly.”
Several concerts were held outdoors and volunteer help came without even asking.
“Talk about helpers. We had more than 300 chairs outside and families helped put them away,” she said.
The school’s Halloween parade was held outdoors, too, and was popular with the kids.
November brought a special school recognition project to involve families of the students.
“In November, we put out a call for photos and information about service in the military. We had the Wall of Honor up for a week,” the principal said.
The display drew a lot of interest from students and school visitors who took time to look over the photos and information about military service by family members and friends of students.
December saw the conversion of the school to “Bogan Elf-ementary” with students and staff dressed in their best Elf on a Shelf costumes.
Community visitors included Miami students who read books to the children outside and a visit by Rox the Oxford Fox, mascot of the Coalition for a Healthy Community – Oxford Ohio, who welcomed back visitors. A book fair was also held early in the year to welcome students back to the building.
A Student Spotlight by the school PTG recognizes students who do nice things for others and one recipient was a student who held the door open for everyone on his bus in the rain. Also recognizing student positive behavior was a Practicing Kind Play program.
A Thankful Thursday cart was taken around the building, offering a job scenario for special education students.
Some other back-to-normal activities have included a second-grade science fair. Like other schools, Bogan also used a dress-up day to salute the Cincinnati Bengals in their run to the Super Bowl.
The slide presentation included a couple photos of students in the school’s outdoor spaces, which Merz said have been revitalized.
“We have beautiful outdoor spaces, including a bird blind,” she said.
The school’s theme is #bettertogether and Merz highlighted that as a tribute to the students and staff working together with a lot of support from families and volunteers.
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