Tara Elementary hosts its own Winter Olympics

Students paraded through the halls of Tara Elementary School on Feb. 6, draped in flags big and small in their very own Parade of Nations.

Younger students sat against the wall, smiling as the upperclassmen swept past.

"It felt like I was in a real parade," said Phoenix Nguyen, a first grader whose class represented Portugal. 

Each class was assigned a country to research before representing that country in the Tara Elementary School Olympics. 

The school's Olympics consisted of five activities inspired by the Winter Olympics — Olympic Torch & Ring Freeze Tag, Skiing Relay, Olympic Rings Relay, Snowball Toss, and Figure Skating. 

The event was planned by Linda Haluska, the physical education teacher at Tara Elementary. Art teacher Kevin Olson, media specialist Lori Bederman, stem teacher Katie Van Beveren and music teacher Barb Siffermann helped run the events.

"It's about unity," Siffermann said. "I taught the kids that the Olympics is about world peace and friendship."

Olson ran the Olympic torch and freeze tag.

"For me, it's a community builder with my students," Olson said. "It gives me a time to interact with my students outside of our normal academic time to build relationships that foster a deeper appreciation for us as an entire community."

Countries represented included South Korea, South Africa, Philippines, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Thailand, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Iceland, Finland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, Canada, Chine, Italy, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, and the United States.

Van Beveren said she played a part in teaching and quizzing the students on flags from each country.

"I love that they're learning about different cultures," Van Beveren said.