Boothbay Region Elementary School closed out its 2016-2017 academic year Tuesday morning, June 20, with an all-school assembly. Assistant Principal Tricia Campbell whipped up the crowd using one shiny gold pom-pom and unabashed school spirit.

Tess greeted students and their parents and friends by announcing staff members who are retiring and will not be returning in the fall. These include Tom Dekker, bus driver; Dawn Murphy, food service; Christin Bailey and Connie Colby, educational technicians; Tom Wright, of the Special Education Work Center; special ed tech III Adam Harter-Ives, who will be moving to Boothbay Region High School; Kathleen Sheehan, special ed tech; and Barbara Greenstone, technology integrator.

Also retiring are Lucy-Ann Spaulding, kindergarten teacher, and Rita Arnold, fifth and sixth grade math teacher. Students who have known Spaulding and Arnold for most of their time (and lives) at BRES gave a loud chorus of “NO!” when their names were announced. 

A more cheerful note followed when music teacher Genie O’Connell called down fourth through sixth grade chorus members for certificates. She praised her students for their hard work, which is often overlooked, she said, andfor their commitment to practice and for dressing up for events. “I’m the luckiest chorus director in the state because I get to make music with the best,” O’Connell said.

Stuart Smith and his son, Alex, awarded 22 bicycles to winners of the Bikes for Books program, which encourages reading by having third through sixth grade students read and give detailed reports on completed books. Students who read the most books are awarded a bicycle. The Smiths, sponsored by several local businesses and Boothbay’s Bayview Masonic Lodge, have supplied schools with bikes and helmets for the contest for a number of years. Smith praised BRES eighth grader Jaden Arsenault for his work in putting together most of the bikes this year.

Collectively, students read over 40,000 pages, or 196 books. The winner this year was BRES sixth grader Grace Campbell, who read over 9,300 pages. Gryffin Yereance, in the third grade, came in second, having read over 4,000 pages. A complete list of the winners includes: Third grade: Abby Amaral, Tatum Barter, Natalie Gamage, Lysander LeFevre, Bailey Lewis, Isaac Lewis, Matthew Little, Sophie White and Gryffin Yereance. Fourth grade: Sawyer Blake, Nick Giles, Alyssa Hyson, Wyatt Lorrain and Josiah Perry. Fifth grade: Avery Barter, Lilie Hassan, Natalie Mayotte and Maria Michael. Sixth grade: Ryan Amaral, Gabe Barter, Grace Campbell and Gryffin Kristan.

Lauren Brown introduced the three top winners from the BRES May event, “Jump Rope for Hearts,” held to benefit the American Heart Association. Suzie Edwards collected $1,054, a school record. Brown handed her a medal and a certificate for her efforts. Maria Michael came in second with $357, and Clayton Splaine, third, with $325.  Brown said over $3,700 was raised in total, a school record.

This event always holds consequences for Tess, who gives students a choice in what he will have to do if they raise a certain amount of money. Last year, he was green slimed. The year before, he was covered with silly string, and before that, he ended up with a pie in the face. This year, he promised to kiss a pig if the school raised over $2,000.

True to his word, Tess not only kissed one pig, he kissed several types of pigs: a Guinea pig, stuffed pigs, Miss Pig on Route 27 and finally, a two-day old piglet at Seth and Crystal Lewis’s Blue Tin Farm in Edgecomb. Tess also met 450-pound Rosie, the resident pet pig who thinks she’s a dog, and several baby goats. He did not bring the kissing pig into the assembly, as it may have been stressful for the animal. He was greeted with a huge round of applause and much foot-stomping when he completed his task.

The assembly ended on that note, and students left the gymnasium for the summer. They filed out in an orderly fashion, as instructed by head cheerleader Campbell.