Millersburg fifth-graders get Olympic-sized send-off

As students rise through the ranks of elementary school, they eventually reach the pinnacle, the highest grade level achievable in elementary school, which for West Holmes elementaries is fifth grade.

The staff members at Millersburg Elementary gave their fifth-grade students a warm send-off as they relinquish their seniority, soon to become small fish in a big new pond at West Holmes Middle School.

For several years the school has celebrated a time-honored tradition of having their student body line the courtyard walking track to honor the fifth-graders, but on Thursday, May 23, they may have begun a new addition to the tradition.

The school is celebrating the upcoming Olympics, and in doing so, it decided to incorporate that theme into the procession, adding a new flair on the time-honored theme.

Physical education teacher Megan Stryker came up with the idea of passing on the torch, literally, to the fourth-grade students in a symbolic gesture.

“As a school we were celebrating the 2024 Paris Olympics coming up this summer, and phys ed teachers around the world are doing that,” Stryker said. “We’ve always done the ‘clap out’ for the fifth-graders, but this year (teacher) Michelle Rawson came up with the idea of implementing the torch idea, and (school art teacher) Sherri Barkman and I kind of ran with the idea and it worked out really well.”

Barkman helped the fifth-grade students create paper torches that they then carried around the track with them as the rest of the student body bid them farewell with cheers and high-fives.

Principal Renee Woods stood high atop the playground slide with a microphone, announcing each fifth-grader who then took his/her turn rolling around the walking path.

“It turned out to be a really neat experience, and it’s something that we may well continue as a traditional part of our clap out,” Woods said.

For the fifth-graders, it marks a final moment of embracing their spot atop the pecking order at school. For the fourth-graders, getting to line up and receive a torch from the upper classmen was an inspiring moment that welcomed them to that new and highest ranking.

“It’s a moment for the fourth-graders to say, ‘You can’t call us fourth-graders anymore; we’re officially fifth-graders,’” Stryker said. “It’s kind of a neat symbolic moment that turned out to be a really great addition to our send-off for the fifth-grade students.”

Making the final day of school memorable is always a fun way to celebrate the last day of school, but putting the emphasis on it for the group moving on to junior high caps off their time in elementary school and sets them on a new path to the next phase of their education, and this ceremony did so in Olympic-sized style.