Copyright Altoona Mirror
This year, a total of 21 stations were designed by Saint Francis University students to incorporate fairy tale stories into the activities, which were spread out in the high school’s gymnasium and cafeteria. The event was open to students in pre-K through sixth grade. If they completed at least 10 stations, the students received a $5 voucher for next week’s book fair, courtesy of the Penn Cambria Parent-Teacher Organization, which sponsored Monday’s event. By 6 p.m., more than 215 students showed up with their families eager to complete as many stations as possible before the event ended at 8 p.m. In one station, students developed a pulley system to save Rapunzel, who no longer wanted to let her hair down, according to elementary library media specialist Candace Brooks, who developed the idea of fairy tale night several years ago. At another station, students programmed an electronic mouse to complete a puzzle and take Cinderella to the ball, Brooks said. “I spend time teaching the kids and showing them these stories. Then we create things for them to solve in a STEAM way,” Brooks said, noting the event started many years ago at the Penn Cambria Intermediate School in Lilly. It grows larger each and every year, Brooks said, noting school officials ran out of parking spaces and decided to move the event to the high school about three years ago. It still continues to grow, she said. “It all came about when I started seeing twisted fairy tales and I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to give kids and families community opportunities to get together for a free event,'” Brooks said. All for the students Penn Cambria Parent-Teacher Organization secretary Lisa Wisniewski, who is also a Saint Francis University professor, said the organization does a lot of fundraising each year to make the event special for the students. Community members donate supplies and even current Penn Cambria High School students, like sophomore Tylee Martino, volunteer to make the event a success, Wisniewski said. Martino manned one of the stations to get service hours for the National Honor Society. She’s currently taking a child development class at Penn Cambria and enjoys learning about kids’ behaviors. Wisniewski said the Penn Cambria PTO partnered with Saint Francis University’s education and public health departments to develop each station. The students designed the stations as part of a course project, she said. Some of those students volunteered their time to work the stations, including third-year occupational therapy students Madison McCoy and Reegan Brown, who dressed up as Maleficent and Princess Aurora from Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty,” respectively. The Penn Cambria students were encouraged to dress up in their favorite Halloween costumes and many of them did, including Wisniewski’s sons — Gabriel, 8, and Sebastian, 10 — who dressed as Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi from “Star Wars.” Gabriel Wisniewski said he likes “Star Wars,” but not as much as his older brother. “What I like about this event is that we get to do fun things, and we get to have fun and we get to share with other people about fairy tales,” Gabriel said. Sebastian Wisniewski said he was eager to get his $5 voucher. He said he loves to read Lauren Tarshis’ “I Survived” book series and hopes to redeem his voucher for one of the series’ books next week. Lincoln Wyland, 5, of Gallitzin, also likes to read, according to his mother, Bri Chavers, who said her son has been talking about attending the fairy tale night for over a week. “Now that he’s actually in kindergarten and starting to learn different words, he is starting to read. He’s also very excited about the book fair coming up,” Chavers said. Nevaeh Litzinger, 6, of Lilly is also starting to learn how to read, her mother, Courtney Litzinger, said. Nevaeh’s favorite book is “Time for a Nap” by Phillis Gershator, Courtney said. Odin Spohn, 5, attended the fairy tale night with his parents, Karinn Ross and CJ Spohn. Odin’s favorite part of the night was getting to play with marbles, he said. Penn Cambria second grader Bristol Buck, 8, was there with her mother, Janelle. “We’ve come every year,” Janelle Buck said, noting this year was their third year of attending the fairy tale night event. Bristol came home from school Monday and “was excited just to eat her supper and come over (to the school) right away,” Janelle Buck said. “Every year, she enjoys it. There’s different crafts and interactive games,” Janelle said, adding Bristol loves Dav Pilkey’s “Dog Man” book series. Bristol Buck said she loves to read, but she’s not certain what book she’ll use her voucher to buy at next week’s book fair. Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.
