The circus came to town Monday for eighth-grade students at Elm Middle School — and they were part of the show.
The school had its fifth-annual Circus Day event May 18 at the school, a tradition for eighth-grade students on their last day at school.
On that day, there’s no classroom work for the 200 students, but a chance to learn something different.
That morning Cirque Amongus, a group of professionally trained circus performers and entertainers from Michigan who teach the circus arts, came to the school. The circus arts instructors took groups of the eighth-graders and taught them how to juggle, walk a tightwire, do magic tricks and other acts.
Kathleen Porreca, principal of Elm Middle School, said the students really enjoy the event.
“It’s a way to have a fun activity on their last day,” she said.
She said some students knew how to do some of the tricks, while others worked hard to catch on. They only had one day to try and master the different circus performances and the groups helped each other learn the different acts.
Porreca said this process provides the students with valuable lessons.
“It teaches teamwork, being adventurous and trying new things,” she said. “It exposes them to new things that they might not try on their own. These are all the different skills they’re employing.”
The students practiced outside at the rear of the school, but they weren’t just practicing to just learn something. The students took what they had learned that morning and performed in front of first- and second-grade students from Elmwood Elementary School and John Mills Elementary School later that afternoon.
She said regardless of the students’ skills, the younger students enjoyed the performance.
“To them, the eighth graders are glamorous,” she said.
Porreca the eighth-grade students were able to bond over the day’s events.
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“I believe it will be one of those things that they will look back and have fond memories of,” she said.
The school’s eighth-grade class had their graduation ceremony on May 19.