Lakewood Ranch's Willis Elementary hosts fall field day

By Liz Ramos
| 2:15 p.m. November 21, 2024

Fifth grader Grayson Hermann pushes the basketball, meant to represent a pumpkin, through the cones to the hay and back as fast as he can.

East County
Schools

With cooler temperatures and a steady breeze, Robert E. Willis Elementary School students had to be creative when it came to the pumpkin balance race.

The wind was too strong to allow the students to balance a pumpkin on the top of their heads, so they had to find other ways to carry the pumpkin to a cone and back to the start during the school's fall field day Nov. 21.

Fifth grader Tatiana Ebert chose to balance the small pumpkin between her shoulder and neck.

Fifth grader Sofia Velez decided to use the clip on her student ID badge to hold onto the pumpkin.

Other students were putting it on their backs, and some tried to balance it on their heads despite the wind.

The races brought out students' competitive spirits in various stations. Other stations included fishing for apples, sack races, a pumpkin race and a bucket toss.

Fifth grader Isaac Nichols races to the finish line, ending in a dive. "It hurts a lot. I fell at least four times," Nichols says with a laugh.

Sack races bring out the competitive spirit in students.

Fifth grader Tatiana Ebert balances the pumpkin between her shoulder and neck to safely carry it to the cone and back.

Fifth grader Sofia Velez uses her ID to carry the pumpkin.

Fifth grader Olivia McGettigan says the key to fishing for apples is pulling the string to get the magnet on the pole straight.

Fifth grader Sebastian Veras tries his best to fish for an apple. With great persistence, he was able to get the magnet to attach to the apple.

Fifth grader Taran Eades dances to the "Macarena" while waiting his turn to fish.

Fifth grader Katherine Ayers dances to the "YMCA."

Fifth graders Emma Hendrix, Shelby Hodges, Lily Shahan and Zsofia Dow are getting tired after giving their all at each station. They already had participated in sack races and pumpkin races.

Fifth grader Finn Heffernan tosses a ball into a bucket to earn a third point for his team.

Fifth graders Graham Lough, Ethan Byal and Noah Shortridge cheer for each other while participating in the fishing station.

author

Liz Ramos

Managing Editor Liz Ramos previously covered education and community for the East County Observer. Before moving to Florida, Liz was an education reporter for the Lynchburg News & Advance in Virginia for two years after graduating from the Missouri School of Journalism.