Students Vie for Gold on Playground

Although Sydney 2000 wrapped up over the weekend, Balboa Gifted/High Ability Magnet in Northridge kicked off its version of the Olympics on Tuesday, featuring events such as the Alphabet Relay, the Noodle Balloon Relay and the Hula-Hoop Relay.

The games, which will be held today through Friday will not only be fun but will teach students about teamwork, cooperation and a little world geography, said third-grade teacher Angela Bronson, who brought the games to the school four years ago.

“It’s pretty cute to see [students] compete and cheer on each other,” Bronson said.

Teams composed of mixed grades will represent designated “nations” that will compete against each other. On Tuesday, students marched to the real Olympics theme, carrying handmade flags of the countries they represented. Second-grader Jessica Hong, who won the school’s mascot design competition, carried her award-winning flag, depicting a colorful eagle.

School administrator Pansy Rankin used an “Olympic flame” to light an outdoor tiki torch that will burn during the games.

“We try and make this as close to the real opening ceremonies as possible,” Bronson said.

Bronson and her sister, an educator in Texas, came up with the idea of school-based Olympic Games, brainstorming by telephone, fax machine and e-mail to create competitive events for their schools. They even split the task of sewing 30 homemade flags for the children to wave, as real Olympians do.

Events include traditional letter and counting games that have been tweaked into a relay format, as well as the Shoe Pile Relay, in which children dig through a heap of sneakers to find one of their own, put it on and tie it.

Gold, silver and bronze medals--painted poker chips with cord threaded through holes drilled into them--are to be presented by figure skater Michelle Kwan, a 1998 Winter Olympics silver medalist, during closing ceremonies Tuesday. Countries that score the most overall points will be awarded medals.

The events come just in time for the grand opening of the school’s playground, paid for by a $25,000 grant from the Anne and Kirk Douglas Foundation and by Proposition BB, a local bond measure approved by voters in 1997 for school upgrades and renovations.

“The new playground is gorgeous,” Bronson said. “Before, the only grass on this campus was growing out of the cracks of asphalt.”

KUDOS

Fellowship: Jarahn Hillsman, a graduate of the urban studies and planning program at Cal State Northridge, is one of 10 undergraduates nationwide to win the Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship that pays for a two-year master’s degree program. He is the first CSUN graduate to have won the prestigious award.

Hillsman is studying international public affairs at Columbia University in New York. The award is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation to prepare outstanding students for careers as foreign service officers with the U.S. State Department.

Applicants must be U.S. citizens, maintain a minimum 3.2 grade point average and have a bachelor’s degree.

PROGRAM NOTES

Champion Clinic: Elementary and high school students are invited to a pep rally clinic Sunday given by the nationally recognized Agoura High School spirit team from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m at the school gymnasium. The cost is $20. Participants will get to demonstrate their skills during the halftime show of Agoura’s Oct. 13 homecoming game. Preregistration is recommended at (818) 889-1262. Ask for Coach Eileen McGrew.

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